Hawaii Administrative Rules › Title 11 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Subtitle 1 - GENERAL DEPARTMENTAL PROVISIONS › Chapter 156 - COMMUNICABLE DISEASES › Section 11-156-2 - Definitions

Current through June, 2024
As used in this chapter:
"Bloodborne pathogen" means any pathogenic microorganisms
				  that are present in human blood and can cause disease in humans. These
				  pathogens include, but are not limited to, hepatitis viruses and human
				  immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
"Carrier" means a person (or animal) that harbors a specific
				  infectious agent in the absence of discernible clinical disease and serves as a
				  potential source of infection.
"Case" means a person or animal that harbors an infectious
				  agent and has manifest disease.
"Chemoprophylaxis" means the administration of a chemical,
				  including antibiotics, to prevent the development of an infection or the
				  progression of an infection to manifest disease.
"Communicable disease" means an illness which arises through
				  transmission of a specific infectious agent or its toxic products from an
				  infected person, animal, or inanimate reservoir to a susceptible host.
"Contact" means a person or animal that has been in
				  association with an infected person or a contaminated environment which might
				  provide an opportunity to acquire the infectious agent.
"Control" means the ongoing operations or programs aimed at
				  reducing incidence and/or prevalence of communicable disease and some
				  noncommunicable conditions.
"Control Group or, Control" means subject(s) with whom a
				  comparison is made in a case control study, or other variety of epidemiologic
				  study.
"Department" means the department of health of the State of
				  Hawaii. Unless otherwise indicated, the department of health is represented by
				  the district health office on the neighbor islands and the disease
				  investigation branch on Oahu.
"Direct care provider" means a person engaged in the care of
				  children, patients, elderly, or the infirm.
"Director" means the director of health of the State of
				  Hawaii, or the director's duly authorized agent.
"Health care provider" or "provider" means a physician (M.D.
				  or D.O.), chiropractor, naturopath, dentist, or the director of a hospital or a
				  long-term care facility.
"Immunization" is a technique used to cause an immune
				  response that results in resistance to a specific disease. "Isolation" means
				  separation during the period of communicability of infected persons or animals
				  from others to prevent or limit the direct or indirect transmission of the
				  infectious agent from those who are infected and who may spread the agent to
				  others. Isolation procedures fall into three categories as listed below.
(1) "Strict isolation", to prevent the transmission of highly
				  contagious or virulent infections that may be spread by both air and
				  contact.
(2) "Contact isolation", to prevent transmission of less
				  highly transmissible diseases spread primarily by close or direct
				  contact.
(3) "Respiratory isolation", to prevent the transmission of
				  infectious diseases over short distances through the air.
"Laboratory" means any institution, building or place
				  (including a blood bank) in which or by which operations or procedures for the
				  microbiologic, serologic, chemical, hematologic, biophysical, toxicologic,
				  cytologic or pathologic examinations of specimens taken from the human or
				  animal body or the environment are performed to obtain information to guide
				  diagnosis, prophylaxis or treatment.
"Observation" means the practice of close medical or other
				  supervision of contacts in order to permit prompt recognition of infection or
				  illness but without restricting their movements.
"Outbreak" means the occurrence in a community or region of
				  an illness clearly in excess of normal expectancy.
"Positive HIV test result" means the reported result of any
				  test that unequivocally indicates that the subject of the test is infected with
				  HIV. This includes any positive confirmatory HIV antibody test, any positive
				  HIV detection test, and any viral load test which indicates a viral load above
				  the minimum limit for detection level.
"Practitioner" means a physician who is licensed under the
				  provisions of chapter 453 or 460, HRS, a physician assistant licensed under the
				  provisions of chapter 453, HRS, or an advanced practice registered nurse
				  recognized under the provisions of chapter 457, HRS, and shall include those
				  persons authorized to practice medicine as a physician or nursing as an
				  advanced practice registered nurse in federal facilities located in the
				  State.
"Provisional diagnosis" means the most likely diagnosis
				  based on clinical history and signs and/or symptoms, pending laboratory
				  confirmation.
"School" means any day care center, child care facility,
				  head start program, preschool, kindergarten, elementary or secondary school,
				  public or private, university or college or vocational school, including any
				  special school for children in the State.
"Sexually transmitted infection" means an infection that is
				  commonly transmitted through sexual contact. Sexual contact includes and is not
				  limited to oral contact, vaginal intercourse, anal intercourse, and
				  oral-genital and oral-oral contact.
"Suspected case" means a person whose medical history and
				  symptoms suggest that he or she may have or be developing some communicable
				  disease.