Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 51 - PUBLIC HEALTH-SANITARY CODE › Part II - The Control of Diseases › Chapter 1 - Disease Reporting Requirements › Section II-115 - Investigations [formerly paragraph 2:009]

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. The state health officer may immediately
				upon receiving notification of any communicable disease or reportable
				condition, investigate as the circumstances may require for the purpose of
				verification of the diagnosis, to ascertain the source of the causative agent,
				to disclose unreported cases and to reveal susceptible contacts if such
				information is required to prevent a serious health threat to the community.
				The decision of the state health officer as to the diagnosis shall be final,
				for administrative purposes.
B.
				[formerly paragraph 2:010] The state health officer is hereby empowered and it
				is made his or her duty whenever a case of communicable disease occurs, to
				obtain laboratory specimens of body tissues, fluids or discharges and of
				materials directly or indirectly associated with the case as may be necessary
				or desirable in confirmation of the diagnosis or for ascertaining the source of
				the infection, recency of onset, strain of organism, and/or medication
				resistance, when acceptable laboratory and medical reports are not available.
				Whenever laboratory tests are required for the release of cases or carriers or
				suspected cases or carriers, the state health officer shall be satisfied that a
				sufficient number of specimens are examined, that the specimens are authentic
				and are examined in an acceptable laboratory.
C. [formerly paragraph 2:013] No person shall
				interfere with or prevent the entrance to or examination of any house,
				building, trailer, camp, train, airplane, bus, steamship, or other water craft,
				or any abode, by the state health officer where a case of communicable disease
				is either suspected or reported to exist.
D. [formerly paragraph 2:009-1] The state
				health officer shall make a good faith effort to notify individuals who are
				spouses and/or sexual contacts to persons with Human Immunodeficiency Virus
				(HIV) infection of their exposure, offer them counseling about their risk of
				infection, and offer them testing for HIV infection. In performing this
				activity, the state health officer or his/her designee shall initially contact
				the primary medical provider of the person who has HIV infection, if such
				medical provider can be identified, and ask if the infected person or the
				medical provider intends to conduct this notification. If neither the infected
				person nor the medical provider intends to notify spouses or sexual partners of
				the exposure, the state health officer or his/her designee shall attempt to
				interview the infected person directly to identify these partners for
				counseling and testing. Notification of partners shall be conducted in such a
				manner as to maintain the confidentiality of the infected person.
AUTHORITY NOTE:
				  Promulgated in accordance with the provisions of
				  R.S.
				  40:4(A)(2) and
				  R.S.
				  40:5(10).