Rhode Island Code of Regulations
Title 216 - Department of health
Chapter 30 - Infectious Diseases
Subchapter 05 - Infectious Diseases
Part 1 - Reporting and Testing of Infectious, Environmental, and Occupational Diseases
Section 216-RICR-30-05-1.5 - Timeframe, Methods, and Reportable Conditions
Universal Citation: 216 RI Code of Rules 30 05 1.5
Current through March 20, 2024
1.5.1 Timeframes
A. The lists cited in
§ 1.5.3 of this Part pertain to individuals and facilities required to
report pursuant to § 1.4.1 of this Part. Cases due to the diseases listed
below shall be reported to the RIDOH within the timelines indicated. Reportable
diseases are grouped as follows:
1.
Immediately reportable diseases shall be reported within twenty-four (24) hours
of recognition or strong suspicion of disease.
2. All other reportable conditions shall be
reported within four (4) days of recognition or suspicion.
1.5.2 Methods
A. Case reports must be submitted on a RIDOH
case report form as specified by the RIDOH website. The minimal information
required when submitting a case report form includes: disease being reported,
patient's full name, address, city, State, zip code, phone number, date of
birth, gender, race and ethnicity, date of onset, and physicians' name and
phone number.
B. Clinical
laboratories, including those outside of Rhode Island, performing examinations
on any specimens derived from Rhode Island residents that yield evidence of
infection due to the diseases listed in § 1.5.3 of this Part shall report
such evidence of infection directly to RIDOH.
1. Clinical laboratories shall submit
specimens, isolate, or samples to RIDOH immediately upon request.
C. The minimal information
required when submitting a laboratory report includes: a laboratory contact,
test results, date of specimen collection, patient's full name, date of birth,
sex, address, patient's phone number, and name of ordering health care
provider.
D. Reporting methods
include, but are not limited to the following:
1. Mail to: Rhode Island Department of
Health, Division of Preparedness, Response, Infectious Diseases, and Emergency
Medical Services, 3 Capitol Hill, Providence RI 02908-5097.
2. Fax to RIDOH using fax numbers on the
reporting forms.
3. Telephone:
Between 8:30 am - 4:30 pm (Monday - Friday): (401) 222-2577. For telephone
reporting for immediately reportable diseases after hours call (401)
272-5952.
4. Electronic reporting
of clinical and laboratory results to RIDOH.
5. Organizations that house reportable
disease data must allow RIDOH to access the database for data mining from
various data sources, including, but not limited to: electronic laboratory
reports, medical records, health information exchange feeds, syndromic
surveillance feeds, immunization and other disease registries, and billing
data.
1.5.3 Reportable Disease and Conditions
A. For the conditions listed below, invasive
disease must be confirmed by isolation from blood, cerebral spinal fluid,
pericardial fluid, pleural fluid, peritoneal fluid, joint fluid, urine, or
other normally sterile site.
B.
Pregnant women with a reportable infectious disease listed in § 1.5.3 of
this Part that can be transmitted to the unborn child or infant must be
reported within four (4) days of recognition. For example, HIV, Zika, syphilis,
Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, rubella, etc.
C. If testing is positive for any of the
reportable conditions listed below and is performed with a Culture Independent
Diagnostic Test (CIDT), the laboratory must perform reflexive culture or
transport the original specimen to another laboratory to perform culture. If
the culture is positive, the isolate must be recovered and sent to the Rhode
Island State Health Laboratories for those organisms as indicated in
§§ 1.4.3(D) and (E) of this Part. Both positive and negative culture
results must be reported to RIDOH.
D. Immediately Reportable Diseases and
Conditions must be reported within twenty-four (24) hours.
1. Animal bites
2. Anthrax (Bacillus
anthracis and Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
3. Arboviral infections (e.g., West Nile,
Eastern Equine Encephalitis, Powassan, Zika, Chikungunya, Yellow
Fever)
4. Botulism
(Clostridium botulinum)
a.
Laboratories must submit the specimen to the Rhode Island State Health
Laboratories.
5.
Brucellosis (Brucella species)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
6. Cholera (Vibrio cholerae)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
7. Ciguatera
8. Clostridium perfringens epsilon
toxin
9. Diphtheria
(Corynebacterium diptheriae)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
10. Encephalitis (any infectious
cause)
11. Glanders
(Burkholderia mallei)
a.
Laboratories must submit isolate to the Rhode Island State Health
Laboratories.
12.
Hantavirus (All species)
13.
Hepatitis A
a. Laboratories must report
aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and Bilirubin
Total and Bilirubin Direct.
14. Measles (Rubeola)
a. Laboratories must submit the specimen to
the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
15. Melioidosis (Burkholderia
pseudomallei)
a. Laboratories must
submit isolate to the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
16. Meningococcal Disease-
invasive (Neisseria meningitidis)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
17. Novel or emerging respiratory
viruses
18. Outbreaks and clusters
as defined in § 1.5.4 of this Part
19. Paralytic shellfish poisoning
20. Plague (Yersinia pestis)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
21. Poliomyelitis (polio virus)
22. Q-Fever (Coxiella
burnetii)
a. Laboratories must
submit specimen to the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
23. Rabies (animal)
a. Laboratories must submit the animal to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
24. Rabies (human)
a. Laboratories must submit specimen to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
25. Ricin poisoning
26. SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)
a. Laboratories must submit specimen to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
b. Any public or private entity administering
an FDA-approved COVID- 19 test shall submit all results, including positive and
negative results, promptly with RIDOH.
27. SARS-CoV-2 associated deaths
28. SARS-CoV-2 associated
hospitalizations
29. Scombroid
poisoning
30. Smallpox
(Variola)
a. Laboratories
must submit specimen to the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
31. Staphylococcal enterotoxin B
poisoning
32. Staphylococcus aureus
invasive infections: Vancomycin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) or
Vancomycin Intermediate Staphylococcus aureus (VISA)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
33. Tularemia (Francisella
tularensis)
a. Laboratories must
submit isolate to the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
34. Typhoid fever
(Salmonella typhi)
a.
Laboratories must submit isolate to the Rhode Island State Health
Laboratories.
35.
Unexplained deaths (possibly due to unidentified infectious causes)
36. Vibriosis (all Vibrio species)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
37. Viral hemorrhagic fevers (Ebola, Lassa,
Marburg, etc.)
a. Laboratories must submit
specimen to the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
E. Other Reportable Conditions
must be reported within four (4) days
1. Acute
Flaccid Myelitis
2. Anaplasmosis
(Anaplasma phagocytophilium)
3. Babesiosis (all species)
4. Campylobacteriosis (Campylobacter all
species)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate
to the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
5. Carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative
bacteria
a. Laboratories must submit isolate
to the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
6. Chancroid (Haemophilus
ducreyi)
7. Chlamydia
trachomatis (genital and ophthalmic)
8. Coccidioidomycosis (Coccidioides
immitis)
9.
Cryptosporidiosis (Cryptosporidium all species)
10. Cyclosporiasis (Cyclospora
cayetanensis)
11. Dengue
virus
12. Ehrlichiosis
(Ehrlichia chaffeensis)
13. Escherichia coli, Shiga toxin-producing
(STEC)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to
the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
14. Giardiasis (Giardia
lamblia)
15. Gonorrhea
(Neisseria gonorrhoeae)
16. Granuloma Inguinale (Klebsiella
granulomatis)
17.
Haemophilus influenzae disease, all serotypes-invasive
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
18. Hansen's disease or Leprosy
(Mycobacterium leprae)
19. Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)
20. Hepatitis B, C, D, E, and unspecified
viral hepatitis
a. Laboratories must report
all positive results.
b.
Laboratories must report aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine
aminotransferase (ALT), and Bilirubin Total and Bilirubin Direct.
c. Physicians must report all acute Hepatitis
cases.
d. Physicians must report
pregnancy in a chronic Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C-positive woman using forms
required by RIDOH.
21.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) 1 and 2 /Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
(AIDS)
a. Laboratories must report every CD4
cell count and HIV viral load test result performed on an HIV-positive
individual.
b. Physicians must
report pregnancy in an HIV-positive woman using forms required by
RIDOH.
22. Influenza
associated deaths
23. Influenza
associated hospitalizations
24.
Influenza novel virus infections
a.
Laboratories much submit all unsubtypable Influenza A specimens to the Rhode
Island State Health Laboratories.
25. Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI)
(Mycobacterium tuberculosis)
26. Legionellosis (Legionella
pneumophila)
a. Laboratories must
submit isolate to the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
27. Leptospirosis
(Leptospira interrogans)
28. Listeriosis- invasive (Listeria
monocytogenes)
a. Laboratories must
submit isolate to the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
29. Lyme disease (Borrelia
burgdorferi)
30.
Lymphogranuloma Venereum (Chlamydia trachomatis)
31. Malaria (Plasmodium species)
32. Meningitis (aseptic, bacterial, viral, or
fungal)
33. Multisystem
Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C)
34. Mumps (Paramyxovirus)
a. Laboratories must submit the specimen to
the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
35. Ornithosis/Psittacosis
(Chlamydophila psittaci)
36. Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID): all
cases, based upon clinical diagnosis
37. Pertussis (Bordetella
pertussis)
38.
Pneumococcal Disease-invasive (Streptococcus pneumoniae)
a. Laboratories must submit an isolate to the
RI State Health Laboratories for any individual less than five (5) years of
age.
39. Rickettsiosis,
including Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (Rickettsia - all species)
40. Rubella (including congenital rubella)
a. Laboratories must submit the specimen to
the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
41. Salmonellosis (Salmonella - all species)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
42. Shigellosis (Shigella - all species)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
43. Streptococcal Disease-Group A - invasive
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
44. Streptococcal Disease - Group B-
invasive
45. Streptococcal Toxic
Shock Syndrome (Streptococcus pyogenes)
46. Syphilis - all stages including
neurosyphilis and congenital syphilis (Treponema
pallidum)
47. Tetanus
(Clostridium tetani)
48. Toxic Shock Syndrome
(non-Streptococcal)
49.
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (including Creutzfeldt Jakob
Disease)
50. Trichinosis
(Trichinella species)
51.
Tuberculosis Disease (Mycobacterium tuberculosis)
a. Laboratories must submit isolate to the
Rhode Island State Health Laboratories.
52. Varicella (Varicella-Zoster
virus)
53. Yersiniosis
(Yersinia enterocolitica)
a.
Laboratories must submit isolate to the Rhode Island State Health
Laboratories.
1.5.4 Reporting of Outbreaks
A. Any person or entity who is required to
report and has knowledge of an outbreak of infectious disease or a cluster of
unexplained illness, infectious or non-infectious, whether or not listed in
these Regulations, shall immediately report the facts to RIDOH.
B. Outbreaks required to be reported include,
but are not limited to:
1. Exotic diseases and
unusual group expressions of illness which may be of public health
concern.
2. A single case of a
disease long absent from a population or the first invasion by a disease not
previously recognized in that area.
3. Outbreaks or clusters identified by
significant increases in the usual occurrence of the disease in the same area,
among the specified population, at the same season of the year.
4. The occurrence of two (2) or more cases of
a similar illness resulting from the ingestion of a common food or water
source.
5. A cluster of similar
illness in institutional settings, including but not limited to nursing homes,
hospitals, schools, and day care centers.
6. A single case of rare and/or unusual
diagnoses, including but not limited to avian influenza, smallpox, Ebola, SARS,
Zika, Borrelia miyamotoi, Candida auris, or
human rabies.
7. Outbreaks of
unusual diseases or illness that may indicate acts of terrorism using
biological agents, including but not limited to anthrax and botulism. See
complete list of biological agents in § 1.7.2(A)(1) of this
Part.
8. Any condition compatible
with exposure to nuclear, radiological, or chemical substances, which could be
indicative of radiological or chemical terrorism events.
9. Clusters of overdoses or adverse reactions
to a drug, whether prescription or illicit.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Rhode Island may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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