25 Tex. Admin. Code § 97.6 - Reporting and Other Duties of Local Health Authorities and Regional Directors
(a) The purpose of this section is to provide
procedures for local health authorities and regional directors to report a
disease to the Department of State Health Services (department) central
office.
(b) Those notifiable
conditions identified as public health emergencies in §
97.4(a) of this
chapter (relating to When and How to Report a Condition or Isolate) must be
reported immediately to the department by telephone at (888)
963-7111.
(c) AIDS, chancroid,
Chlamydia trachomatis infection, gonorrhea, HIV infection, and
syphilis must be reported in accordance with Subchapter F of this chapter
(relating to Sexually Transmitted Diseases Including Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome (AIDS) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)).
(d) For notifiable conditions not listed in
subsections (b) and (c) of this section, the local health authority or the
department's regional director collects reports of disease and transmits the
information listed in §
97.3(a)(3) of
this chapter (relating to What Condition to Report and What Isolates to Report
or Submit) at weekly intervals, as directed by the department.
(e) The preferred option for reporting is
electronic data transmission, but reports may be made by telephone or fax.
(1) Any electronic data transmission of the
report must provide protection against unauthorized disclosure, and utilize a
format prescribed by the receiving agency.
(2) For any notifiable condition reported by
telephone, the person reporting must follow-up with an electronic data
transmission through an approved electronic means within 24 hours of the
original notification.
(f) The health authority must notify health
authorities in other jurisdictions of a case or outbreak of a communicable
disease if the case resides in another jurisdiction or there is cause to
believe transmission of a disease may have occurred in another jurisdiction.
The department will assist the health authority in providing such notifications
upon request. The health authority of the area where the case or outbreak is
diagnosed must report the case or outbreak to the department on the same basis
as other reports.
(g) The health
authority upon identification of a case or upon receipt of notification or
report of disease, must take such action and measures as may be necessary to
conform with the appropriate control measure standards. The health authority
may, upon identification of a case or upon report of a communicable disease in
a child attending a public or private child-care facility or a school, notify
the owner or operator of the child-care facility or the school administrator.
The commissioner is authorized to amend, revise, or revoke any control measure
or action taken by the health authority, if necessary or desirable in the
administration of a regional or statewide public health program or
policy.
(h) The health authority is
empowered to close any public or private child-care facility, school, or other
place of public or private assembly when in his or her opinion such closing is
necessary to protect the public health; and such school or other place of
public or private assembly must not reopen until permitted by the health
authority who caused its closure.
(i) Persons reporting notifiable conditions
in animals must be referred to the central office or the appropriate regional
office of the department's Zoonosis Control Branch.
Notes
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