Blue book - Guidelines for the control of infectious diseases

Introduction

The blue book: guidelines for the control of infectious diseases has been published by the Communicable Diseases Section, Public Health Group, Victorian Department of Human Services, to assist public health practitioners in the prevention and control of infectious diseases.

The Department of Human Services is committed to enhancing and protecting the health and well-being of all Victorians. Our challenge, together with public health practitioners, is to reduce community risk from communicable disease in Victoria through the implementation of patient focused and population focused control strategies based on surveillance and risk assessment.

Information for each disease in this edition covers:

Victorian statutory requirement for notification and exclusion
infectious agent(s)
identification
incubation period
public health significance and occurrence
reservoir
mode of transmission
period of communicability
susceptibility and resistance
control measures for patients and contacts
outbreak measures
international measures if applicable
sources of further information if applicable

The first edition of The blue book: guidelines for the control of infectious diseases (1996) was used as the basis for this second edition. As treatments change over time health care workers should consult the current version of Therapeutic guidelines: antibiotic (Therapeutic Guidelines Limited) for up to date information. The blue book is not intended to replace appropriate referral or the need to seek further professional advice.

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The document below contains a print version of all the information in this section of the web site.

Blue book - Guidelines for the control of infectious disease (1mb, pdf)

Purchase a hard copy

Hard copies may be purchased for $15.00 from Information Victoria 505 Little Collins Street Melbourne 3000.
Telephone 1300 366 356 (local call cost) or online at Information Victoria Bookshop.

Acknowledgements

These guidelines have been developed by the Communicable Diseases Section, Public Health Group. The Blue Book – Guidelines for the control of infectious diseases first edition (1996) was used as the basis for this update.

We would like to acknowledge and thank those who contributed to the development of the original guidelines including various past and present staff of the Communicable Diseases Section.

We would also like to acknowledge and thank the following contributors for their assistance:

A/Prof Heath Kelly, Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory
Dr Noel Bennett, content editor
Dr Sally Murray, content editor
Ms Kerry Ann O’Grady, content editor

Disclaimer

These guidelines have been prepared following consultation with experts in the field of infectious diseases and are based on information available at the time of their preparation.

Practitioners should have regard to any information on these matters which may become available subsequent to the preparation of these guidelines.

Neither the Department of Human Services, Victoria, nor any person associated with the preparation of these guidelines accept any contractual, tortious or other liability whatsoever in respect of their contents or any consequences arising from their use.

While all advice and recommendations are made in good faith, neither the Department of Human Services, Victoria, nor any other person associated with the preparation of these guidelines accepts legal liability or responsibility for such advice or recommendations.

References

The following sources were used in the preparation of the guidelines:

Therapeutic Guidelines Limited 2003, Therapeutic guidelines – antibiotic, version 12.
Heymann D, 2004 Control of communicable diseases manual, 18th edn, American Public Health Association (the 17th edition, Chin J ed. 2000, was used in compiling The blue book).