State Health Workers Must Now Report Diseases
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
Health care workers now must report all
suspected or confirmed cases of Twelve priority diseases
immediately to a state hotline.
The state Department of Health added the immediate reporting
requirement to its 24-hour deadline in April because of new
concerns about bioterrorism. The policy took effect this week.
State epidemiologist Doctor Frank Wilson says the reporting will
help doctors do everyday diagnoses as well as respond to a terror
threat. Wilson says the state is encouraging more immediate
reporting so doctors across the state will be aware of what
diseases are starting to appear in their area. That way, they can
recognize rare diseases and order the right tests to make
diagnoses.
The Twelve diseases that require immediate reporting are:
anthrax, botulism, Hepatitis A, meningococcal infections,
pertussis, plague, Q-fever, SARS, smallpox, tularemia, typhus and
viral hemorrhagic fevers.
