摘要：Introduction: The clinical and economic burdenof infectious diseases is a substantial public healthproblem. The determination of the relative contributionsof these diseases to the overall healthcareburden can inform priority setting, planning, anddecision-making in healthcare and establish abaseline for future comparisons. Few recent studieshave presented definitive data on the incidenceof infectious diseases requiring hospitalisationin the Southern Hemisphere. We identified theage-specific number of hospitalisations and severeinfections requiring intensive care unit admissionsin the Geelong region. This was then extrapolatedto calculate incidence data of these selected infectiousdiseases in Australia.Methods: This observational study was performedin Geelong, the second largest city in Victoria(population of 194,566 adults ≥ 20 years).University Hospital Geelong is a public hospitalwith the only emergency department in Geelongduring the years 2011 and 2013. Patients wereidentified using the International Classification ofDiseases, 10th Revision Australian Modificationdischarge codes and diagnoses were confirmedusing clinical, radiological and laboratory criteria.Results: Between 2011 and 2013, there were 1,506admissions for community-acquired pneumonia(CAP) (245.3 per 100,000 person years), 1,613admissions for skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs)(271.2 per 100,000 person years), 479 for pyelonephritis(79.7 per 100,000 person years), 131 forinfluenza (22.4 per 100,000 person years), and52 for meningitis (8.9 per 100,000 person years).Conclusion: SSTI, CAP, and pyelonephritis are commonsyndromes responsible for admission to hospitalin Australia, with an incidence that increaseswith age. CAP is a major cause of morbidity andmortality in the Australian population. Influenza isassociated with the greatest percentage of severeinfections requiring intensive care unit admission.
