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Reportable diseases |
| Definition: |
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Reportable diseases are diseases considered to be of great public health importance. Local, state, and national agencies (for example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) require that such diseases be reported when they are diagnosed by doctors or laboratories. This permits surveillance (i.e., the collection of statistics on the frequency with which the disease occurs), which in turn allows these agencies to identify trends in disease occurrence, as well as disease outbreaks. |
| Alternative Names: |
| Notifiable diseases |
| Information: |
All states have a "reportable diseases" list. Although it is up to states to decide which diseases are reportable, most of these lists are similar with only a few variations depending on geographical location. The diseases are divided into several groups:
(Name of State) State law requires the following diseases to be reported to the local health department, or the (state) Department of Health. Please contact.... Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Amebiasis Anthrax * Botulism * Brucellosis Campylobacteriosis Cancer *** Chancroid Chickenpox ** Chlamydial Infections Cholera * Coccidioidomycosis Colorado Tick Fever Diphtheria * Echinococcosis Encephalitis (post-infectious, arthropod-borne, and unspecified) Food-borne Illness, including food poisoning Giardiasis Gonococcal Ophthalmia Neonatorum Gonorrhea Granuloma Inguinale Hemophilus Influenza, Invasive Disease (all serotypes) Hepatitis A Hepatitis B, cases and carriers Hepatitis, other Viral: Type C Influenza ** Legionellosis Leprosy Leptospirosis Lymphogranuloma Venereum Malaria Meningitis, Aseptic and Bacterial Meningococcemia Mumps ** Pelvic Inflammatory Disease Pertussis * Plague * Poliomyelitis * Q-fever Rabies (Human and Animal) * Relapsing Fever (tick-borne and louse borne) Rheumatic Fever Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Rubella Rubella, Congenital Syndrome Rubeola * Salmonellosis Shigellosis Staphylococcal Diseases ** Syphilis Tetanus * Toxic Shock Syndrome Trichinosis Tuberculosis Tularemia Typhoid *, cases and carriers Typhus * Yellow Fever * * Telephone reporting required ** Report total cases only *** Cancer should be reported to (State) Cancer Registry The State Health Department will attempt to find the source of many of these illnesses, such as food poisoning or amebiasis. In the case of sexually-transmitted diseases the state will attempt to locate sexual contacts to assure they are disease-free or are appropriately treated if they are already infected. The information obtained by reporting allows the state to make informed decisions and laws concerning activities and the environment such as food handling, water purification, insect control, animal control, STD (sexually-transmitted disease) tracking, and immunization programs. Please remember that the health care provider is bound by law to report these events. People with any of the diseases listed in the state's reporting schedule should make every effort to cooperate with the state health workers. Cooperation may help locate the source of an infection or prevent the spread of an epidemic. |
Reviewed By: David N. Fisman, M.D., M.P.H., FRCP(C). Hamilton Department of Social and Public Health Services, and McMaster University Division of Infectious Diseases, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.
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