Section 97.6 - Reporting and Other Duties of Local Health Authorities and Regional Directors(a) The purpose of this section is to provide procedures for local health authorities and regional directors to report a disease to the Department of State Health Services (department) central office.(b) Those notifiable conditions identified as public health emergencies in § 97.4(a) of this chapter (relating to When and How to Report a Condition or Isolate) must be reported immediately to the department by telephone at (888) 963-7111.(c) AIDS, chancroid, Chlamydia trachomatis infection, gonorrhea, HIV infection, and syphilis must be reported in accordance with Subchapter F of this chapter (relating to Sexually Transmitted Diseases Including Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)).(d) For notifiable conditions not listed in subsections (b) and (c) of this section, the local health authority or the department's regional director collects reports of disease and transmits the information listed in § 97.3(a)(3) of this chapter (relating to What Condition to Report and What Isolates to Report or Submit) at weekly intervals, as directed by the department.(e) The preferred option for reporting is electronic data transmission, but reports may be made by telephone or fax. (1) Any electronic data transmission of the report must provide protection against unauthorized disclosure, and utilize a format prescribed by the receiving agency.(2) For any notifiable condition reported by telephone, the person reporting must follow-up with an electronic data transmission through an approved electronic means within 24 hours of the original notification.(f) The health authority must notify health authorities in other jurisdictions of a case or outbreak of a communicable disease if the case resides in another jurisdiction or there is cause to believe transmission of a disease may have occurred in another jurisdiction. The department will assist the health authority in providing such notifications upon request. The health authority of the area where the case or outbreak is diagnosed must report the case or outbreak to the department on the same basis as other reports.(g) The health authority upon identification of a case or upon receipt of notification or report of disease, must take such action and measures as may be necessary to conform with the appropriate control measure standards. The health authority may, upon identification of a case or upon report of a communicable disease in a child attending a public or private child-care facility or a school, notify the owner or operator of the child-care facility or the school administrator. The commissioner is authorized to amend, revise, or revoke any control measure or action taken by the health authority, if necessary or desirable in the administration of a regional or statewide public health program or policy.(h) The health authority is empowered to close any public or private child-care facility, school, or other place of public or private assembly when in his or her opinion such closing is necessary to protect the public health; and such school or other place of public or private assembly must not reopen until permitted by the health authority who caused its closure.(i) Persons reporting notifiable conditions in animals must be referred to the central office or the appropriate regional office of the department's Zoonosis Control Branch.25 Tex. Admin. Code § 97.6
The provisions of this §97.6 adopted to be effective March 16, 1994, 19 TexReg 1453; amended to be effective January 1, 1999, 23 TexReg 12663; amended to be effective December 20, 2000, 25 TexReg 12426; amended to be effective August 5, 2001, 26 TexReg 5658; amended to be effective June 5, 2007, 32 TexReg 2997; amended to be effective December 20, 2012, 37 TexReg 9777; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 41, Number 13, March 25, 2016, TexReg 2317, eff. 4/3/2016; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 49, Number 46, November 15, 2024, TexReg 9226, eff. 1/1/2025