1. (a) A physician, dentist, veterinarian, or chiropractor shall report, as required by these sections, each patient or animal he or she shall examine and who has or is suspected of having any reportable disease or health condition, and shall report any outbreak, exotic disease, or unusual group expression of illness of any kind whether or not the disease is known to be communicable or reportable. An employee from the clinic or office staff may be designated to serve as the reporting officer. A physician, dentist, veterinarian, or chiropractor who can assure that a designated or appointed person from the clinic or office is regularly reporting every occurrence of these diseases or health conditions in their clinic or office does not have to submit a duplicate report.
2. (b) The chief administrative officer of a hospital shall appoint one reporting officer who shall be responsible for reporting each patient who is medically attended at the facility and who has or is suspected of having any reportable disease or health condition. Hospital laboratories may report through the reporting officer or independently in accordance with the hospital's policies and procedures.
3. (c) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, any person who is in charge of a clinical laboratory, blood bank, mobile unit, or other facility in which a laboratory examination of any specimen derived from a human body yields microscopic, culture, serologic, or other evidence of a reportable disease, health condition, or bacterial organism shall report as required by this section.
4. (d) School authorities, including a superintendent, principal, teacher, school health official, or counselor of a public or private school and the administrator or health official of a public or private institution of higher learning should report as required by these sections those students attending school who are suspected of having a reportable disease. School authorities are exempt from reporting sexually transmitted diseases in accordance with §97.132(b)(5) of this title (relating to Who Shall Report Sexually Transmitted Diseases).
5. (e) Any person having knowledge that a person is suspected of having a reportable disease or health condition should notify the local health authority or the department and provide all information known to them concerning the illness and physical condition of such person or persons.
6. (f) Sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and AIDS shall be reported in accordance with §97.132 of this title.
7. (g) Failure to report a reportable disease is a Class B misdemeanor under the Texas Health and Safety Code, §81.049.

Source Note:The provisions of this §97.2 adopted to be effective March 16, 1994, 19 TexReg 1453; amended to be effective March 5, 1998, 23 TexReg 1954.