Virginia Administrative Code › Title 12 - HEALTH › Agency 5 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Chapter 90 - REGULATIONS FOR DISEASE REPORTING AND CONTROL › Part III - Reporting of Disease › Section 12VAC5-90-90 - Those required to report

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
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.
Statutory Authority: §§ 32.1-12 and 32.1-35 of
						the Code of Virginia.