A.
Physicians. Each physician who treats or examines any person who is suffering
from or who is suspected of having a reportable disease or condition shall
report that person's name, address, age, date of birth, race, sex, and
pregnancy status for females; name of disease diagnosed or suspected; the date
of onset of illness; available laboratory tests and results; and the name,
address, and telephone number of the physician and medical facility where the
examination was made, except that influenza should be reported by number of
cases only (and type of influenza, if available). Reports are to be made to the
local health department serving the jurisdiction where the physician practices.
A physician may designate someone to report on his behalf, but the physician
remains responsible for ensuring that the appropriate report is made. Any
physician, designee, or organization making such report as authorized herein
shall be immune from liability as provided by §
32.1-38 of the Code of Virginia.
Such reports shall be made on a Form Epi-1, a computer
generated printout containing the data items requested on Form Epi-1, or a CDC
or VDH surveillance form that provides the same information and shall be made
within three days of the suspicion or confirmation of disease except that those
identified in
12VAC5-90-80 C
shall be reported immediately by the most rapid means available, preferably by
telephone, to the local health department serving the jurisdiction in which the
facility is located. Reporting may be done by means of secure electronic
transmission upon agreement of the physician and the department.
Additional elements are required to be reported for
individuals with confirmed or suspected active tuberculosis disease. Refer to
Part X (12VAC5-90-225 et seq.) for details
on these requirements.
B.
Directors of laboratories. Laboratory directors shall report any laboratory
examination of any clinical specimen, whether performed in-house or referred to
an out-of-state laboratory, which yields evidence, by the laboratory method
indicated or any other confirmatory test, of a disease listed in
12VAC5-90-80 B.
Each report shall give the source of the specimen and the
laboratory method and result; the name, address, age, date of birth, race, sex,
and pregnancy status for females (if known) of the person from whom the
specimen was obtained; and the name, address, and telephone number of the
physician at whose request and medical facility at which the examination was
made. When the influenza virus is isolated, the type should be reported, if
available. Reports shall be made within three days of identification of
evidence of disease, except that those identified in
12VAC5-90-80 C
shall be reported immediately by the most rapid means available, preferably by
telephone, to the local health department serving the jurisdiction in which the
laboratory is located. Reports shall be made on Form Epi-1 or on the
laboratory's own form if it includes the required information. Computer
generated reports containing the required information may be submitted.
Reporting may be done by means of secure electronic transmission upon agreement
of the laboratory director and the department. Reports of HIV genetic
nucleotide sequence data associated with HIV drug resistance tests must be
submitted electronically. Any person making such report as authorized herein
shall be immune from liability as provided by §
32.1-38 of the Code of
Virginia.
A laboratory identifying evidence of any of the following
conditions shall notify the local health department of the positive culture or
other positive test result within the timeframes specified in
12VAC5-90-80 and submit the
initial isolate or other initial specimen to the Division of Consolidated
Laboratory Services within seven days of identification. All specimens must be
identified with the patient and physician information required in this
subsection.
Anthrax
Botulism
Brucellosis
Cholera
Diphtheria
E. coli infection, Shiga toxin-producing.
(Laboratories that use a Shiga toxin EIA methodology but do not perform
simultaneous culture for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli should forward all
positive stool specimens or positive enrichment broths to the Division of
Consolidated Laboratory Services for confirmation and further
characterization.)
Haemophilus influenzae infection, invasive
Influenza A, novel virus
Listeriosis
Meningococcal disease
Pertussis
Plague
Poliovirus infection
Q fever
Salmonellosis
Shigellosis
Streptococcal disease, Group A, invasive
Tuberculosis (A laboratory identifying Mycobacterium
tuberculosis complex (see
12VAC5-90-225) shall submit a
representative and viable sample of the initial culture to the Division of
Consolidated Laboratory Services or other laboratory designated by the board to
receive such specimen.)
Tularemia
Typhoid/Paratyphoid fever
Vancomycin-intermediate or vancomycin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus infection
Vibrio infection, including infections due to
Photobacterium damselae and Grimontia hollisae
Yersiniosis
Other diseases as may be requested by the health
department
When a clinical specimen yields evidence indicating the
presence of a select agent or toxin as defined by federal regulations in 42 CFR
Part 73, the person in charge of the laboratory shall contact the Division of
Consolidated Laboratory Services and arrange to forward an isolate for
confirmation. If a select agent or toxin has been confirmed in a clinical
specimen, the laboratory director shall consult with Division of Consolidated
Laboratory Services or CDC regarding isolate transport or destruction.
Laboratories operating within a medical care facility shall
be considered to be in compliance with the requirement to notify the local
health department when the director of that medical care facility assumes the
reporting responsibility; however, laboratories are still required to submit
isolates to the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services or other
designated laboratory as noted in this subsection.
C. Persons in charge of a medical care
facility. Any person in charge of a medical care facility shall make a report
to the local health department serving the jurisdiction where the facility is
located of the occurrence in or admission to the facility of a patient with a
reportable disease listed in
12VAC5-90-80 A
unless he has evidence that the occurrence has been reported by a physician.
Any person making such report as authorized herein shall be immune from
liability as provided by §
32.1-38 of the Code of Virginia.
The requirement to report shall include all inpatient, outpatient, and
emergency care departments within the medical care facility. Such report shall
contain the patient's name, address, age, date of birth, race, sex, and
pregnancy status for females; name of disease being reported; available
laboratory tests and results; the date of admission; medical record number;
date expired (when applicable); and attending physician. Influenza should be
reported by number of cases only (and type of influenza, if available). Reports
shall be made within three days of the suspicion or confirmation of disease
except that those identified in
12VAC5-90-80 C
shall be reported immediately by the most rapid means available, preferably by
telephone, to the local health department serving the jurisdiction in which the
facility is located. Reports shall be made on Form Epi-1, a computer generated
printout containing the data items requested on Form Epi-1, or a CDC or VDH
surveillance form that provides the same information. Reporting may be done by
means of secure electronic transmission upon agreement of the medical care
facility and the department.
A person in charge of a medical care facility may assume
the reporting responsibility on behalf of the director of the laboratory
operating within the facility.
D. Persons in charge of a residential or day
program, service, or facility licensed or operated by any agency of the
Commonwealth, or a school, child care center, or summer camp. Any person in
charge of a residential or day program, service, or facility licensed or
operated by any agency of the Commonwealth, or a school, child care center, or
summer camp as defined in §
35.1-1 of the Code of Virginia
shall report immediately to the local health department the presence or
suspected presence in his program, service, facility, school, child care
center, or summer camp of persons who have common symptoms suggesting an
outbreak situation. Such persons may report additional information, including
identifying and contact information for individuals with communicable diseases
of public health concern or individuals who are involved in outbreaks that
occur in their facilities, as necessary to facilitate public health
investigation and disease control. Any person so reporting shall be immune from
liability as provided by §
32.1-38 of the Code of
Virginia.
E. Local health
directors. The local health director shall forward any report of a disease or
report of evidence of a disease which has been made on a resident of his
jurisdiction to the Office of Epidemiology within three days of receipt. This
report shall be submitted immediately by the most rapid means available if the
disease is one requiring rapid communication, as required in
12VAC5-90-80 C.
All such rapid reporting shall be confirmed in writing and submitted to the
Office of Epidemiology, by either a paper report or entry into a shared secure
electronic disease surveillance system, within three days. Furthermore, the
local health director shall immediately forward to the appropriate local health
director any disease reports on individuals residing in the latter's
jurisdiction or to the Office of Epidemiology on individuals residing outside
Virginia. The Office of Epidemiology shall be responsible for notifying other
state health departments of reported illnesses in their residents and for
notifying CDC as necessary and appropriate.
F. Persons in charge of hospitals, nursing
facilities or nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and correctional
facilities. In accordance with §
32.1-37.1 of the Code of
Virginia, any person in charge of a hospital, nursing facility or nursing home,
assisted living facility, or correctional facility shall, at the time of
transferring custody of any dead body to any person practicing funeral
services, notify the person practicing funeral services or his agent if the
dead person was known to have had, immediately prior to death, an infectious
disease which may be transmitted through exposure to any bodily fluids. These
include any of the following infectious diseases:
Coronavirus, severe (e.g., SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV)
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
Human immunodeficiency virus infection
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis C
Rabies
Smallpox
Syphilis, infectious
Tuberculosis, active disease
Vaccinia, disease or adverse event
Viral hemorrhagic fever
G. Employees, conditional employees, and
persons in charge of food establishments.
12VAC5-421-80 of the Food
Regulations requires a food employee or conditional employee to notify the
person in charge of the food establishment when diagnosed with certain diseases
that are transmissible through food and requires the person in charge of the
food establishment to notify the regulatory authority. Refer to
12VAC5-421-80 for further guidance
and clarification regarding these reporting requirements.
Notes
12 Va. Admin. Code §
5-90-90
Derived from
VR355-28-100 §3.2, eff. July 1, 1993; amended, Virginia Register Volume
15, Issue 6, eff. January 6, 1999; Errata, 15:8 VA.R. 1099 January 4, 1999;
amended, Virginia Register Volume 20, Issue 21, eff. July 28, 2004; Volume 23,
Issue 15, eff. May 2, 2007; Volume 27, Issue 13, eff. March 28, 2011; Amended,
Virginia
Register Volume 33, Issue 02, eff.
10/20/2016;
Amended,
Virginia
Register Volume 39, Issue 9, eff.
1/18/2023.
Statutory Authority: §§
32.1-12 and
32.1-35 of the Code of
Virginia.
