Reporting infectious disease to Public Health

[kate murphy]

Are donor centers reporting positive infectious disease testing on donors to their stat Dept of Public Health? Which diseases are you reporting?

I've been told that we need to report West Nile, but when I checked the Massachusetts DPH web site, I noticed that Hep B, Hep C and Syph are also reportable.

[Lcsmrz]

Reportable results are specific to your location and usually can be found on your state's Dept of Health website. In Indianapolis, I believe we still report anonymously, and the results are used for public health statistics only.

Many states have a specific form for reporting results, which will also be available.

[Timothy Malone]

In Florida we report to the local County Health Depts, HIV, Syph and WNV in all 4 counties we service based upon where the donor lives. 2 of the 4 counties want to know every case, regardless of the donor's address. One of the 4 counties requires we report Hep C and Hep B. 45 days later we update them on the status of donor notification. It's a full-time employee that maintains all donor notification.

Tim

[lwagner]

In Mississippi, we report HIV, Syphilis, and WNV.

[John Bowers]

We also had this question regarding reporting to Mass DPH. I've spoke with an epidemiologist there and was told that as long as a donor is counseled and referred to Medical follow up, the Physicians office should be reporting reportable diseases and this was sufficient. I have reported cases in which we were unable to establish contact with a donor.

[dpflanz]

In NM the state health department has a specific set of forms to use and specific contacts for the infectious disease and as the collections facility/donor center we have to report any positives (confirmed positives actually) within the guidelines that they have posted. There have been instances where the donor will refuse the letter we send, however the NM health department has a follow-up of their own so I'm reasonably sure that the donor gets appropriate referral.

[David Saikin]

We always sent a letter to the donor's physician (SOP/autologous only). It was incumbent on the MD to report any reportable condition.