HOW TO REPORT                                                                                                          Laboratory reports must be made in writing and give the following information:                                    ●     the date the specimen was obtained,                                                                                       ●     the patient identification number,                                                                                            ●     the specimen accession number or other unique specimen identifier,                                         ●     the laboratory findings for the test performed,                                                                           ●     the date that any positive laboratory findings were identified,                                                    ●     the name, gender, address, telephone number (if known), and age or date of birth of the patient, ●     the name, address, and telephone number of the health care provider who ordered the test.

The notification for List (e)(1) diseases shall be reported by telephone within one (1) hour, followed by a written report submitted by electronic facsimile transmission or electronic mail within one (1) working day, to the local health officer in the jurisdiction where the health care provider who submitted the specimen is located. The notification for List (e)(2) diseases shall be submitted by courier, mail, electronic facsimile transmission or electronic mail within one (1) working day to the local health officer in the jurisdiction where the health care provider who submitted the specimen is located. Whenever the specimen, or an isolate therefrom, is transferred between laboratories, a test requisition with the above patient and submitter information shall accompany the specimen. The laboratory that first receives a specimen shall be responsible for obtaining the patient and submitter information at the time the specimen is received by that laboratory.

TUBERCULOSIS                                                                                                                     Any clinical laboratory or approved public health laboratory that isolates Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a patient specimen must submit a culture to the local public health laboratory as soon as available from the primary isolate on which a diagnosis was established.

The following information must be submitted with the Culture:                                                     ●     the name, address, and the date of birth of the person from whom the specimen was obtained, ●     the patient identification number,                                                                                            ●     the specimen accession number or other unique specimen identifier,                                    ●     the date the specimen was obtained from the patient,                                                             ●     the name, address, and telephone number of the health care provider who ordered the test.

Unless drug susceptibility testing has been performed by the clinical laboratory on a strain obtained from the same patient within the previous three months or the health care provider who submitted the specimen for laboratory examination informs the laboratory that such drug susceptibility testing has been performed by another laboratory on a culture obtained from that patient within the previous three months, the clinical laboratory must do the following:                                                                                                                                    ●     perform or refer for drug susceptibility testing on at least one isolate from each patient from whom Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated,                                                                        ●     report the results of drug susceptibility testing to the local health officer of the city or county where the submitting physician's office is located within one (1) working day from the time the health care provider or other authorized person who submitted the specimen is notified,                   ●     if the drug susceptibility testing determines the culture to be resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampin, in addition, submit one culture or subculture from each patient from whom multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated to the public health laboratory for the local health jurisdiction in which the health care provider’s office is located.