Disease Reporting

Reporting Forms
	Confidential Morbidity Report
	Reportable Diseases
	HIV/AIDS Reporting
	Pesticide Illness Report

 

Why Report:

The primary objectives of disease surveillance are:

• To determine the extent of morbidity within the community.
• To evaluate risks of transmission.
• To intervene rapidly when appropriate.

For surveillance to be effective, the reporting of communicable diseases must be timely. Delay or failure to report communicable diseases has contributed to serious consequences in the past. Reports by health care providers form the basis for monitoring communicable diseases. The information provided is crucial for interrupting transmission, recognizing and controlling outbreaks, following trends, and informing the medical community about local occurrence of communicable diseases. Failure to report can result in increased diseases in the community, increased costs for diagnosis and treatment, additional time lost from work or school, prolonged hospitalization, and possibly death.

Who Should Report:

State Law (California Code of Regulations, Title 17, Health and Safety Code, Section 2500; see full text below) requires health care providers to report certain diseases and conditions of public health importance to the local health department. Many physicians are not aware of their responsibility to report these diseases and conditions. Laboratory reporting of a particular disease does not relieve the physician of this responsibility. Patient consent is NOT needed to report cases or suspect cases, or to supply additional information requested by Public Health.

 

What To Report:

The list of diseases and conditions required to be reported to the local health department is available in the “Reporting Forms" section above. Most of these are communicable diseases as required in Title 17, California Code of Regulations, §2500.

The following is the list of Reportable Noncommunicable Diseases and Conditions §2800–2812 and §2593(B):

• Disorders Characterized by Lapses of Consciousness (§2800-2812)
• Pesticide-related illness or injury (known or suspected cases)
• Cancer, including benign and borderline brain tumors (except (1) basal and squamous skin cancer unless occurring on genitalia, and (2) carcinoma in-situ and CIN III of the cervix) (§2593)
  

How To Report:

Reports should be submitted by mail, telephone, or fax depending on the disease category. A standard form, known as the Confidential Morbidity Report (CMR) is available in the "Reporting Forms" section above for reporting most diseases and conditions. A separate CMR report form should be completed for each disease. Please complete all sections of the CMR.

The HIV/AIDS Case Reporting Form is also available in the "Reporting Forms" section above; this form may only be submitted by mail. The Public Health Services HIV/AIDS Surveillance Coordinator is available to assist in report completion. The confidentiality of patient information is always protected.

 

Urgency of Reporting Requirements [17 CCR §2500(h)(i)]

			Report immediately by telephone (designated by a ♦ in regulations).
		†	Report immediately by telephone when two or more cases or suspected cases of foodborne disease from separate households are suspected to have the same source of illness (designated by a ● in regulations.)
FAX			Report by electronic transmission (including FAX), telephone, or mail within one working day of identification (designated by a + in regulations).
			All other diseases/conditions should be reported by electronic transmission including FAX), telephone, or mail within seven calendar days of identification

 

Where To Report
For all diseases except HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases: (209) 468-3822 [after hours 468-6000] Fax: (209) 468-8222 Mail: (Seal and mark: CONFIDENTIAL) San Joaquin County Public Health Services Attention: Morbidity P.O. Box 2009 Stockton, CA 95201-2009	For Sexually Transmitted Diseases: (209) 468-3845 Fax: (209) 948-7473 Mail: (Seal and mark: CONFIDENTIAL) San Joaquin County Public Health Services Attention: Sexually Transmitted Diseases P.O. Box 2009 Stockton, CA 95201-2009	For HIV/AIDS Reports: (209) 468-3475 Fax: (no fax) Mail: (Seal and mark: CONFIDENTIAL) San Joaquin County Public Health Services Attention: AIDS Surveillance Coordinator P.O. Box 2009 Stockton, CA 95201-2009

Title 17, California Code of Regulations (CCR), §2500
Reportable Diseases and Conditions*

§2500. Reporting to the Local Health Authority.

• §2500(b) It shall be the duty of every health care provider, knowing of or in attendance on a case or suspected case of any of the diseases or conditions listed below, to report to the local health officer for the jurisdiction where the patient resides. Where no health care provider is in attendance, any individual having knowledge of a person who is suspected to be suffering from one of the diseases or conditions listed below may make such a report to the local health officer for the jurisdiction where the patient resides.
• §2500(c) The administrator of each health facility, clinic or other setting where more than one health care provider may know of a case, a suspected case or an outbreak of disease within the facility shall establish and be responsible for administrative procedures to assure that reports are made to the local health officer.
• §2500(a)(14) "Health care provider" means a physician and surgeon, a veterinarian, a podiatrist, a nurse practitioner, a physician assistant, a registered nurse, a nurse midwife, a school nurse, an infection control practitioner, a medical examiner, a coroner, or a dentist.