Disease Reporting Oct. 6, 2025

Reporting cases of communicable diseases and related conditions has been and remains a vital step in controlling and
preventing the spread of communicable disease. These reports are useful in many ways, including assurance of provision of appropriate medical therapy, detection of common-source outbreaks, and planning and evaluating prevention and control programs. Public health would like to share the following laws and rules related to disease reporting. As it relates to HIPAA and confidentiality the patient records you share with us are protected by General statute 130A-144(b)(c).

General statute 130A-135 reads “A physician licensed to practice medicine who has reason to suspect that a person about whom the physician has been consulted professionally has a communicable disease or communicable condition declared by the Commission to be reported, shall report information required by the Commission to the local health director of the county or district in which the physician is consulted.” Reporting timelines for reasonably suspected and confirmed cases of communicable disease are listed in 10A NCAC 41A .0101. Timelines range from immediately to 24 hours to 7 days.

We appreciate the work you do to manage the disease processes of your patients and encourage you to reach out to our teams if you have questions about appropriate treatment and/or follow up. Based on review of referral data and current tuberculosis activity in our county, we encourage providers of patients who have a positive PPD or QFT to discuss test results and the importance of proper evaluation to rule out active tuberculosis with their patients as soon as possible. Public health shall investigate all cases of suspected or confirmed tuberculosis disease and their contacts 10 NCAC 41A.0205.