On 7 February 1992 a District Medical Officer at the Gove District Hospital, in Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhemland Northern Territory, notified the Comtmmicable Diseases Branch in Darwin of a cluster of 12 patients presenting with symptoms of fever, rash, lethargy and fatigue. On 11 February the Communicable Disease Branch notified the Medical Entomology Branch that this outbreak could be due to an adenovirus, enterovirus or an arbovirus.