Is a person required to let the CDC know if you have a horrible contagious disease?

[RB TexLa]

What if no one told them about this Speaker person? Do you have to share you personal medical information with the CDC?

[NMDemDist2]

1. your doctor does n/t

[Critters2]

2. I think doctors tell them.

My cousin had streptococcus A--the flesh-eating bacteria--and two guys from the CDC came to his hospital room and interviewed him. His doctors had alerted them.

[verse18]

3. Medical staff are mandated to report to the local health department.

At least in my state.

[blondeatlast]

4. As stated above, the doctor who makes the diagnosis is required to notify the CDC. nt

[helderheid]

5. The medical staff is required to.

[azurnoir]

6. No you don't

but your MD does, have to, this is true of any communicable disease whether it is HIV, gonorrhea,TB(any type), measles, polio the list goes on. In the case of STD's one is required to give the name(s) of all sexual partners who will then receive a letter saying that a sexual partner not named has been diagnosed with x disease

[Kagemusha]

7. People act shocked - SHOCKED - that contagious disease info is passed on.

Like this is an unreasonable infringement upon individual rights. Please. Please!

Your right to swing your communicable disease ends at my face, so to speak.

[Sadie5]

9. Hearings on MSNBC now

and I believe the Repubs are trying to blame the Democrats for this guy getting to other countries. Didn't catch the name of the speaker but he was saying something about Levin flying around the world at taxpayer expense and why didn't he go to whatever country and give this guy a ride so as not to infect the travelers on the other planes.

[Kagemusha]

11. Uh, really. Is Levin's plane equipped for doing that safely?

Does it have the range to make that trip? I heard something about the CDC planes not having the range, and being intended for use within the continental US, not worldwide. Perhaps this is something that requires, oh, let me suggest a word for it if you don't mind...

OVERSIGHT.

Thank you.

[yardwork]

16. My understanding is that the man with TB was told not to fly home

He ignored that directive and took a commercial flight. Other arrangements could have been made, but he ignored the directive to stay put and rushed home on a commercial flight.

So the Republicans' suggestion that this is somehow all Carl Levin's fault for not (1) knowing anything about this, (2) knowing exactly who and where the TB carrier was, and (c) kidnapping him and taking him home on his own plane (thus exposing everyone on that plane) is TOTAL BULLSHIT.

I'm sure that the talking heads will lead with the "It's all Carl Levin's fault!!!" story tonight.

[kestrel91316]

18. Furthermore, TB Andy could EASILY have worn a surgical mask

and claimed he had the flu and didn't want to infect other passengers. Don't the Japanese wear face masks all the time in public to avoid spreading their contagious respiratory diseases?????

[yardwork]

21. Exactly. This whole story stinks to high heaven.

[kestrel91316]

17. Thank you. Definitely needs repeating frequently!

[Warpy]

8. Some diseases are reportable

like Hansen's disease, HIV, measles and TB. The doc who diagnoses the condition is required by law to report it.

[RB TexLa]

10. Is that regardless of what you put in your HIPPA contract with them?

[Kagemusha]

12. AFAIK, HIPPA simply wasn't written to damage the general public health

If the general public health requires the reporting of an acute transmissible disease (note: I am not quoting a law, I am describing as a non-medical professional so this is not a legal term), there's nothing in HIPPA that requires a doctor to keep that secret - far from it, the law clearly and loudly requires doctors to actively report it. The main reason we heard Speaker's name in the media is because there was a public hunt for him because he'd chosen to try playing runaway disease carrier. You didn't see them broadcasting his name before he started flying specifically to evade US anti-epidemic measures, did you?

What annoys me is not so much that but the idea that HIPPA ought to make the sharing of information about extreme drug-resistant tuberculosis with the CBC, a crime. I mean, if that's what HIPPA did, I'd expect a huge outcry to change it immediately. It doesn't, though.

[hlthe2b]

14. see my response #13...

I deal with this continuously in a professional capacity.

[kestrel91316]

19. HIPPA can't stop proper reporting of reportable diseases.

Your right to medical privacy ends where public health considerations begin.

[Midlodemocrat]

20. It's HIPAA, and this type of issue isn't addressed by HIPAA.

Your doctor is required by law to provide the information to the CDC. In a lot of cases, the patient's name is never revealed, thus no HIPAA violation.

[Warpy]

22. Yep. Public health laws

supersede a patient's right to privacy. The doctor can't tell a partner that someone is HIV positive but s/he is legally compelled to report the case.

[hlthe2b]

13. Each state has laws requiring certain diseases & conditions

to be reported. There are some differences in the specific diseases and conditions by state, but there is generally an agreed upon list that state health departments agree upon in collaboration with CDC. CDC does not get IDENTIFIED information from the state--only that sufficient to track occurrence and demographic trends.

But, by law, physicians and laboratories are required to report to state and/or local health officials certain communicable diseases and other non-communicable conditions (e.g., high blood lead levels). HIPAA privacy protections DO NOT override this requirement. Health authorities are exempt from HIPAA when conducting activities specfic to controlling disease spread--although all efforts are made to protect privacy and identity.

In the case of the TB patient, I can all but guarantee that CDC did NOT identify him-- the media found out and did so on their own from either other public records (possibly the quarantine order itself)or possibly from friends/family talking.

[kestrel91316]

15. IIRC, TB is a "reportable disease". That means, if it is suspected or

confirmed, there is a legal requirement for the PHYSICIAN to notify local public health authorities. Whether or not it gets reported on up the line to the CDC would depend on whether the regulations are state or federal, I guess.
---------------
http://www.cdc.gov/EPO/DPHSI/nndsshis.htm
----------------
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001929.htm
Alternative names
Notifiable diseases

Definition
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.

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:

Mandatory written reporting. Examples are gonorrhea and salmonellosis.
Mandatory reporting by telephone. Examples are rubeola (measles) and pertussis (whooping cough).
Report of total number of cases. Examples are chickenpox and influenza.
Cancer. This is reported to the state Cancer Registry (not all states have cancer registries).
----------

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000077.htm

[hedgehog]

23. I think Mr Speaker isn't and never was a danger to anyone else.

His TB may be resistant to many antibiotics, but his body has it under control and sealed off. When I checked the UK NAtional Health Web site, it seemed to indicate that the negative results of the sputum tests show that he is non-contagious.

http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/23069042/
"1. Minor infection with no symptoms - occurs in most cases
Most people in good health who breathe in TB bacteria do not develop active TB disease. The bacteria that you breathe in begin to multiply in the lung. This stimulates your immune system into action. The TB bacteria are killed or made inactive by the immune system (white blood cells, etc). There may be some mild symptoms for a short time, or no symptoms, and the infection is halted.

This is the end of the matter for most infected people. You are not usually aware that you have had this mild infection. A small scar on the lung may be seen on a chest X-ray. This shows that a 'battle' had occurred between the TB bacteria and the immune system."

"If you have been infected with TB but have no symptoms (see above), you cannot pass on the infection. If you have active TB disease, you will cough and sneeze TB bacteria into the air which can infect others."


According to WHO, one-third of the people in the world are infected with TB. Do you really think non of them ever fly?

int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/


When the immune system is weakened by other diseases or by the stress of poverty (poor diet, lousy housing, overwork, etc.), then the tuber enclosing the Bacillus can fail and the TB goes active. until then , the patient is no danger to anyone. As I noted in another thread, Eleanor Roosevelt had TB, but no one ever suspected it until a course of cortisone activated the disease and ended up killing her.


What we have here is an example of the shambles that is our national public health system. Reporting is sporadic, responses are random. Consider that the best way to prepare for the coming flu epidemic is to have stockpiles of IV fluids and protective garb such as gloves, masks and gowns. What is our plan? Local hospitals are supposed to make plans and to stockpile these items. Given the pressure to cut costs, what hospital is going to stockpile items with a limited shelf life that may not be needed for another 5, 10 or 20 years?

[EFerrari]

24. Anecdotal: I contracted some form of typhus after eating

at a restaurant in the Bay Area. I was tested at the hospital and my case had to be reported by the hospital.