Texas Administrative Code › Title 25 - HEALTH SERVICES › Part 1 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES › Chapter 97 - COMMUNICABLE DISEASES › Subchapter A - CONTROL OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES › Section 97.1 - Definitions and Applicability

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
This subchapter contains the general reporting and other
					 control requirements related to communicable disease. Specific reporting and
					 other control requirements applicable to sexually transmitted diseases
					 (including AIDS and HIV) are found in Subchapter F of this chapter (relating to
					 Sexually Transmitted Diseases Including Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
					 (AIDS) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)). The following words and terms,
					 when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings unless the context
					 clearly indicates otherwise.
(1)
				  Act--Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Act, Health and Safety Code,
				  Chapter 81.
(2) Advanced practice
				  nurse--A registered nurse authorized by the Board of Nurse Examiners to
				  practice as an advanced practice nurse based on completing an advanced
				  educational program. The term includes a nurse practitioner, nurse-midwife,
				  nurse anesthetist, and clinical nurse specialist.
(3) Carbapenem resistant
Enterobacteriaceae
(CRE)--CRE-
E. coli
or
				  CRE-
Klebsiella
species as defined in the Centers for Disease
				  Control and Prevention, Patient Safety Component, Protocol for
				  Multidrug-Resistant Organism and
Clostridium difficile
Infection (MDRO/CDI) Module, or its successor.
(4) Carrier--An infected person or animal
				  that harbors a specific infectious agent in the absence of discernible clinical
				  disease and serves as a potential source or reservoir of infection.
(5) Case--As distinct from a carrier, the
				  term "case" is used to mean a person or animal in whose tissues the etiological
				  agent of a communicable disease is lodged and which usually produces signs or
				  symptoms of disease. Evidence of the presence of a communicable disease may
				  also be revealed by laboratory findings.
(6) Commissioner--Commissioner of the
				  Department of State Health Services.
(7) Common carrier--Any vehicle or device
				  available to the public for transportation of persons, goods, or
				  messages.
(8) Communicable
				  disease--An illness due to an infectious agent or its toxic products which is
				  transmitted directly to a well person from an infected person or animal, or
				  indirectly through an intermediate plant or animal host, vector, or the
				  inanimate environment.
(9)
				  Contact--A person or animal that has been in such association with an infected
				  person or animal or a contaminated environment so as to have had opportunity to
				  acquire the infection.
(10)
				  Department--Department of State Health Services.
(11) Diarrhea--A watery or loose stool that
				  takes the shape of the container that holds it.
(12) Disinfection--Application of chemical or
				  physical agents to destroy infectious agents outside the body.
(13) Epidemic--The occurrence in a community
				  or region of a group of illnesses of similar nature, clearly in excess of
				  normal expectancy, and derived from a common or a propagated source.
(14) Exposure--A situation or circumstance in
				  which there is significant risk of becoming infected with the etiologic agent
				  for the disease involved.
(15)
				  Fever--A temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) or
				  higher.
(16) Health authority--A
				  physician designated to administer state and local laws relating to public
				  health under the Local Public Health Reorganization Act, Health and Safety
				  Code, Chapter 121. The health authority, for purposes of this subchapter, may
				  be:
(A) a local health authority appointed by
				  the local government jurisdiction; or
(B) a regional director of the Department of
				  State Health Services if no physician has been appointed by the local
				  government.