Disease Prevention and Control, San Francisco Department of Public Health

Disease Reporting: Additional Information for Medical Providers

California Code of Regulations, Title 17

§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, 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 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.

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Unusual Conditions That Require Clinician Reporting

The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) depends on clinicians to identify and report infectious diseases. Clinicians may be the first to see a potential outbreak and their prompt notification to SFDPH enables us to investigate and begin disease control activities as soon as possible. For some diseases every hour makes a difference in preventing illness and death.

In addition, we ask that clinicians immediately (within one hour) report unusual occurrences or patterns of disease, such as:

  1. Serious, unexpected, unexplained acute illness with atypical host characteristics
    Examples: severe illness in a young patient without immunologic defects, underlying illness, recent travel or other exposure to a potential source of infection
  2. Multiple similarly presenting cases, especially if these are geographically associated or closely clustered in time
    Example: persons who attended the same public event or gathering or who work in the same building
  3. An increase in a common syndrome occurring out of season
    Example: many cases of influenza-like illness in summer
  4. An unusual age distribution for common diseases
    Example: many cases of chickenpox-like illness among adult patients who would be expected to be immune to varicella

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