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INFECTIOUS DISEASES (A00-B99)

In 2008, Infectious diseases (A00-B99) were the underlying cause of 1,935 registered deaths or 1.3% of all deaths. More males died from Infectious diseases than females in 2008, with 997 deaths registered for males and 938 deaths registered for females.

The median age at death from Infectious diseases in 2008 was 80.2 years, slightly lower than the median age for total number of deaths which was 80.9 years. The median age at death from this cause has marginally increased over time, with the median age at death for females typically recorded as being older than that for males. This trend continued in 2008, with the median age at death 83.0 years for females and 77.2 years for males.

Of those deaths due to Infectious diseases, 1,190 (61%) recorded Septicaemia (A40-A41) as the underlying cause of death. In the 10 years since 1999, Septicaemia has increased from 54% of all Infectious diseases to 61% in 2008.

Human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] disease (B20-B24) accounted for 64 deaths in total in 2008. The number of deaths with HIV as the underlying cause has gradually decreased over the past ten years, dropping from 135 in 1999. In 2008, more males (57) than females (7) died from HIV, which is consistent with data from previous years. While still substantial, the disparity between the number of men and women dying from HIV has reduced in the 10 years since 1999. This has been driven by the reduction in the number of males with this underlying cause of death, which has fallen from 126 in 1999 to 57 in 2008. In comparison, the number of females has remained relatively consistent over this period (9 in 1999 to 7 in 2008). The median age at death due to HIV in 2008 was 50.0 years for total persons, 50.4 years for males and 42.8 years for females.

4.1 SELECTED UNDERLYING CAUSES(a), Infectious diseases (A00-B99) - 2008(b)(c)(d)
			Males	Females	Persons	Proportion of all deaths
Cause of Death and ICD Code			no.	no.	no.	%
CHAPTER I Certain infectious and parasitic diseases (A00-B99)			997	938	1 935	1.3
	Intestinal infectious diseases (A00-A09)		24	45	69	-
		Other bacterial intestinal infections (A04)	9	20	29	-
	Tuberculosis (A15-A19)		24	27	51	-
		Respiratory tuberculosis, not confirmed bacteriologically or histologically (A16)	18	19	37	-
	Other bacterial diseases (A30-A49)		603	660	1 263	0.9
		Streptococcal septicaemia (A40)	15	14	29	-
		Other septicaemia (A41)	547	614	1 161	0.8
		Bacterial infection of unspecified site (A49)	17	15	32	-
	Viral infections of the central nervous system (A80-A89)		24	19	43	-
		Slow virus infections of central nervous system (A81)	14	14	28	-
	Viral infections characterized by skin and mucous membrane lesions (B00-B09)		24	24	48	-
		Zoster (herpes zoster) (B02)	12	13	25	-
	Viral hepatitis (B15-B19)		33	14	47	-
		Chronic viral hepatitis (B18)	25	11	36	-
	Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV])disease (B20-B24)		57	7	64	-
	Other viral diseases (B25-B34)		20	19	39	-
		Viral infection of unspecified site (B34)	14	11	25	-
	Sequelae of infectious and parasitic diseases (B90-B94)		133	95	228	0.2
		Sequelae of other and unspecified infectious and parasitic diseases (B94)	124	75	199	0.1
	Other infectious diseases (B99)		11	16	27	-
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Causes selected are those with 20 or more deaths at the 3 digit level of ICD-10.
(b) 2008 data have been subject to process improvements which have increased the quality of these data. See Technical Note 1: 2008 COD Collection - Process Improvements for further information.
(c) Data cells with small values have been randomly assigned to protect the confidentiality of individuals. As a result, some totals will not equal the sum of their components. Cells with a zero value have not been affected by confidentialisation.
(d) Causes of death data for 2008 are preliminary and subject to a revisions process. See Technical Note 2: Causes of Death - Revisions Process.