South Carolina Code of Regulations › Chapter 61 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL › Subchapter 61-20 - Communicable Diseases › Section 61-20.1 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 6, June 28, 2024
A. When
			 capitalized, and for the purposes of this regulation:
(1) "Authorized Health Officer" means an
			 individual designated by the Director of the South Carolina Department of
			 Health and Environmental Control or his or her designee as an individual who
			 may act as a health officer pursuant to these regulations.
(2) "Case" means an instance of a particular
			 disease, injury, or other Condition.
(3) "Carrier" means a person or animal that
			 harbors a specific Infectious Agent without discernible clinical disease or
			 manifests symptoms and serves as a potential source of spread of the infection
			 to others.
(4) "CDC" means the
			 United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
(5) "Communicable Disease" means an
			 Infectious Disease that can be transmitted from one source to
			 another.
(6) "Condition" means a
			 disease, illness or injury; an illness or abnormality in the body that
			 interferes with a person's usual activities or feeling of wellbeing; any
			 illness or health condition that may be caused by chemical terrorism,
			 bioterrorism, radiological terrorism, epidemic or pandemic disease, or novel
			 and highly infectious agents and might pose a substantial risk of a significant
			 number of human fatalities or incidents of permanent or long-term
			 disability.
(7) "Contact" means an
			 individual known to have been exposed to an infected person or animal or a
			 contaminated environment, if the exposure is sufficient to acquire that
			 particular disease.
(8) "Contagious
			 Disease" means a Communicable Disease capable of spreading easily from one
			 person to another by contact or close proximity. A Contagious Disease can be
			 transmitted from person to person or from animal to person through many means
			 including, but not limited to, direct contact, inhalation of airborne droplets,
			 exchange of bodily fluids, animal or insect bites, and needle-sticks.
(9) "Department" means the South Carolina
			 Department of Health and Environmental Control.
(10) "Director" means the Director of the
			 South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.
(11) "Event" means an occurrence of public
			 health importance due to the possibility of substantial risk of human morbidity
			 or mortality.
(12) "Excludable
			 Disease" means a Communicable Disease for which an individual infected with or
			 exposed to the disease has to be removed from an environment to prevent further
			 transmission.
(13) "Infectious
			 Agent" means an organism, such as a virus or bacteria, capable of producing
			 infection or Infectious Disease.
(14) "Infectious Disease" means a disease
			 caused by an Infectious Agent potentially transferable to individuals. An
			 Infectious Disease may or may not be communicable. An example of a
			 non-communicable, but Infectious Disease is a disease caused by toxins from
			 food poisoning or infection caused by toxins in the environment, such as
			 tetanus.
(15) "Isolation" means the
			 physical separation of persons or animals infected with a Communicable or
			 Infectious Disease from others in such places and under such conditions so as
			 to prevent or limit the direct or indirect transmission of the Infectious
			 Agent.
(16) "Outbreak" means the
			 occurrence of more Cases than normally expected within a specific place or
			 group of people over a given period of time.
(17) "Post-exposure Prophylaxis" means a
			 preventive medical treatment provided to a Contact after the exposure to a
			 disease-causing pathogen in order to prevent the development of the
			 disease.
(18) "Public Health
			 Notice" means a note, card, poster, placard or the like issued by an authorized
			 public health authority conveying information or a warning regarding a known or
			 potential risk to the public health.
(19) "Quarantine" means the restriction of
			 activities and movements of well persons or animals who have been exposed to a
			 Communicable Disease for the purpose of preventing disease transmission during
			 the incubation period should infection occur. Quarantine differs from Isolation
			 in that Isolation applies to persons who are known to be infected with a
			 Communicable Disease. Quarantine applies to those who have been exposed to a
			 Communicable Disease, but who are not yet infected.
(20) "Reportable Condition" means any of the
			 diseases, Conditions or Events identified and published in the Department's
			 Official List of Reportable Conditions of which known or suspected Cases are
			 required to be reported to the Department.