1. (a) A physician, dentist, veterinarian, chiropractor, reporting officer of a hospital and a person in charge of a hospital laboratory (if the laboratory reports independently), or school authority shall report to the local health authority where the office, clinic, hospital, or school is located. If there is no local health authority appointed for the jurisdiction where the office, clinic, hospital, or school is located, the report shall be made to the Texas Department of Health (department) regional director. Public health emergencies shall be reported to the department's central office if the local health authority or the department's regional director is not immediately accessible.

2. (b) The administrative officer of a clinical laboratory, blood bank, mobile unit, or other facility shall report a condition or submit an isolate as follows.

   1. (1) If the laboratory examination was requested by a physician, notice shall be sent to the local health authority for the jurisdiction where the physician's office is located, to the department's regional director for the jurisdiction where the physician's office is located if no local health authority exists, or to the department's central office when the regional director or local health authority are unknown to the laboratory.
   2. (2) If the laboratory examination was not requested by a physician, notice shall be sent to the local health authority for the jurisdiction where the laboratory is located, to the department's regional director for the jurisdiction where the laboratory is located if no local health authority has been appointed, or to the department's central office when the regional director or local health authority are unknown to the laboratory.
   3. (3) For vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin resistant coagulase negative Staphylococcus species immediately report by phone to the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance Division at 1-800-252-8239. For Enterococcus species; vancomycin resistant Enterococcus species; Streptococcus pneumoniae; and penicillin resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae; reports shall be mailed to the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance Division, Texas Department of Health, 1100 West 49th Street, Austin, Texas 78756-3199, or faxed to the Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Surveillance Division at 512-458-7616.
   4. (4) All Neisseria meningitidis from normally sterile sites, all vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and all vancomycin resistant coagulase negative Staphylococcus species shall be submitted as pure cultures to the Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Laboratories, 1100 West 49th Street, Austin, Texas 78756-3199.
3. (c) Sexually transmitted diseases including HIV and AIDS shall be reported in accordance with §§97.132-97.135 of this title (relating to Sexually Transmitted Diseases Including Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)).

Source Note:The provisions of this §97.5 adopted to be effective March 16, 1994, 19 TexReg 1453; amended to be effective March 5, 1998, 23 TexReg 1954.