Whenever any physician, hospital, public health nurse or other diagnosing person or agency knows or has reason to believe that any person he examines or treats has or is suspected of having lead poisoning, such person shall within seven days give notice thereof to the department. The department shall specify the procedure to be followed in making the reports and shall provide the necessary forms. When the reports are received, the department shall, by laboratory work and otherwise, assist the attending physician or other person in determining whether the case is one of lead poisoning and, if so, the source of the poison.

The director shall maintain comprehensive records of all reports submitted pursuant to this section. The records shall be geographically indexed in order to determine the location of areas of relatively high incidence of lead poisoning. The records shall be public records but the name of any person contracting lead poisoning shall not be included.