Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1200-14-01-.01 - DEFINITION OF TERMS
(1) For the purpose
of these regulations the terms used herein are defined as follows:
(a) Carrier - A person who harbors, or who is
reasonably believed by the Commissioner, health officer, or designee to harbor
a specific pathogenic organism and who is potentially capable of spreading the
organism to others, whether or not there are presently discernible signs and
symptoms of the disease.
(b) Case -
An instance of an individual or group of individuals who have contracted a
reportable disease, health disorder or condition under investigation by
CEDS.
(c) CEDS - Communicable and
Environmental Disease Services in the Bureau of Health Services Administration
of the Tennessee Department of Health, or its successor agency.
(d) Commissioner - Means the Commissioner of
the Tennessee Department of Health or a designated representative.
(e) Communicable Disease - An illness due to
an infectious agent or its toxic products which is transmitted directly or
indirectly to a well person from an infected person or animal, or through the
agency of an intermediate animal host, vector, or inanimate
environment.
(f) Contact - Any
person or animal known to have been in such association with a person or animal
reasonably suspected of being infected with a disease-causing agent as to have
had the opportunity of acquiring the infection.
(g) Contamination - The presence of a
pathogenic agent on a body surface on or in an inanimate article or
substance.
(h) Cultures or
Specimens - Material taken from any source and cultured or otherwise examined
for the purpose of determining the presence of an organism or organisms or
other evidence of infection or disease.
(i) Department - All references to the
Department in these regulations shall refer to the Tennessee Department of
Health.
(j) Disinfestation - Any
physical or chemical-process by which undesired animal forms, especially
arthropods or rodents, present upon the person, the clothing, or in the
environment of an individual or on domestic animals, may be destroyed upon the
person, his clothing, upon the animal or in the environment of the
person.
(k) Epidemic (or Disease
Outbreak) - The occurrence in a community or region of one or more cases of
illness that is in excess of normal expectancy.
(l) Event - An occurrence of public health
significance and required by the Commissioner to be reported in the
List.
(m) Healthcare Provider - All
persons, facilities and entities regulated pursuant to the provisions of Title
63 and 68, including but not limited to medical doctors, chiropractors,
dentists, nurses, nurse practitioners, osteopathic physicians, pharmacists,
laboratory personnel, veterinarians, dispensing opticians, nursing home
administrators, physician assistants, respiratory care practitioners, clinical
perfusionists, and midwives.
(n)
Inapparent or Subclinical Infection - A person or animal has an inapparent or
subclinical infection when the infectious agent has so mild an effect that even
though infection is present and identifiable by laboratory means, it is
undetected clinically.
(o)
Incidence - The number of cases of disease, of infection, or other event
occurring during a prescribed time period, in relation to the unit of
population in which they occur; thus the incidence of tuberculosis expressed as
a rate is the number of new cases reported per 100,000 population per
year.
(p) Infectious Agent - A
viable pathogen capable of producing infection or disease.
(q) Infected Person - Infected persons
include patients or sick persons, persons with inapparent (or subclinical)
infection and carriers.
(r)
Infection - The entry and development or multiplication of a particular
pathogen in the body of man or animal.
(s) Isolation - The separation for the period
of communicability of infected persons, or persons reasonably suspected to be
infected, from other persons, in such places and under such conditions as will
prevent the direct or indirect conveyance of the infectious agent from infected
persons to other persons who are susceptible or who may spread the agent to
others.
(t) List - Means the List
of Reportable Disease and Reporting Mechanisms as set forth by the
Commissioner.
(u) Local Health
Authority - The administrative officer of the local health department appointed
by the Commissioner with the duty of executing health programs and enforcing
local and Departmental health regulations. If qualified, the health director
may be designated also to serve as the health officer.
1. Local Health Director - The administrative
officer of the local health department appointed by the Commissioner with the
duty of executing health programs and enforcing local and Departmental health
regulations. If qualified, the health director may be designated also to serve
as the health officer.
2. Local
Health Officer - A licensed doctor of medicine or osteopathy appointed by the
Commissioner to provide medical direction and medical enforcement for the local
health department.
3. Local Board
of Health - An optional board established by local legislative bodies. The
board of health may adopt local rules and regulations to protect the general
health and safety of citizens. The board of health has the duty to enforce
local and Departmental rules and regulations through the local health director
and/or the local health officer.
(v) Period of Communicability - The time
during which an infectious agent may be transmitted from an infected person to
others.
(w) Quarantine - Limitation
of freedom of movement or isolation of a person, or preventing or restricting
access to premises upon which the person, cause or source of a disease may be
found, for a period of time as may be necessary to confirm or establish a
diagnosis, to determine the cause or source of a disease, and/or to prevent the
spread of a disease. These limitations may be accomplished by placing a person
in a health care facility or a supervised living situation, by restricting a
person to the person's home, or by establishing some other situation
appropriate under the particular circumstances.
(x) Reportable disease - Any disease which is
communicable, contagious, subject to isolation or quarantine, or epidemic, and
required by the Commissioner to be reported in the List.
(y) Reservoir of Infection - Reservoirs of
infection are humans, animals, insects, plants, soil, or inanimate organic
matter, in which an infectious agent lives and multiplies and depends primarily
for survival, reproducing itself in such manner that it can be transmitted to
man.
(z) Source of Infection - The
person, animal, object, item, or substance from which an infectious agent
passes immediately to a host.
(aa)
Susceptible - A person or animal not known to be immune to a specific
disease.
(bb) Suspect- A person
whose medical history and symptoms, examination or diagnostic tests suggest may
have or may be developing a reportable disease.
Notes
Authority: T.C.A. ยงยง4-5-202, 68-1-103, 68-1-104,68-1-201, and 68-5-104.
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