Gastroenteritis
Fact sheet2 - Health conditions directory.
Diarrhoea in young children3 - Health conditions directory.
Gastroenteritis is the inflammation of the stomach and intestines. It may be caused by bacteria (such as campylobacter, salmonella and shigella), viruses (such as rotavirus or norovirus) or parasites (such as giardia and cryptosporidium).
Public health management guidelines
- Read Queensland Health Guideline for the investigation and management of suspected foodborne illness outbreaks4 (PDF, 1MB)
Notification
Attending medical practitioners/medical superintendents (or delegates)
To notify two or more associated cases of gastroenteritis, or where gastroenteritis is diagnosed in a food handler.
Notification resources
- List of all Pathological, clinical and provisional diagnosis notifiable conditions 5
- List of Public Health Unit6 contacts
- Notifiable conditions report form for Queensland doctors/clinicians (PHA S70) or person in charge of a Hospital (PHA S71)7 (PDF, 77KB) - if faxing notification, follow up by phone.
Enhanced surveillance for public health units
- Gastrointestinal/Foodborne outbreak summary form8 (XLS, 89KB) - used by public health units to report summary information about gastrointestinal and foodborne outbreak investigations to OzFoodNet.
- Institutional non-foodborne gastroentestinal outbreak summary form9 (XLS, 75KB) - used by public health units to report summary information about institutional non-foodborne gastrointestinal outbreak investigations to OzFoodNet.
Resources for health professionals
- Prevention and management of a gastroenteritis outbreak in a camp facility10 (PDF, 461kB) – a manual for camp facilities, schools and community groups.
- Viral or suspected viral gastroenteritis outbreaks11 (PDF, 281kB) - information for directors and staff of early childhood education and care services.