64D-3.028. Definitions

When used in Chapter 64D-3, F.A.C., the following terms shall mean:

(1) “15 Digit Spoligotype (Octal Code)” – Spoligotyping (spacer oligonucleotide typing) is an amplification-based genotyping method that determines the presence or absence of 43 spacer sequences in the direct repeat region in the M. tuberculosis chromosome. The complement of spacers is initially recorded in binary code and then converted to the reportable 15 digit octal code commonly referred to as the ‘spoligotype’.

(2) “Authorized Representative” – An employee of the Department or personnel assigned to the Department by another state or federal agency supervised and approved by the Department.

(3) “BED” – The BED HIV-1 Capture EIA is the assay currently used in STARHS for performing HIV incidence surveillance. The FDA has labeled the assay for surveillance use not for diagnostic or clinical use.

(4) “Carrier”–

(a) A person who harbors pathogenic organisms of a communicable disease but who does not show clinical evidence of the disease; or

(b) A person to whom evidence points as the source of one (1) or more cases of any communicable disease but who refuses to submit clinical specimens to the Department or county health department for examination; or

(c) A person who, in the judgment of the State Health Officer or county health department director or administrator or their designee, is suspected to be a carrier and who refuses to submit to examination when ordered to do so for good cause shown by the State Health Officer or county health department director or administrator or their designee; or

(d) A person reported to the Department or the county health department to be a carrier by the health authorities of any municipality, county, or state in the United States, of any foreign nation or of any international organization of which the United States is a member; or

(e) An animal which, in the judgment of the State Health Officer or county health department director or administrator or their designee, is suspected to harbor pathogenic organisms of a communicable disease without presentation of clinical evidence of disease.

(5) “Case” – An instance of a suspected or diagnosed disease or condition in a person or animal.

(6) “Communicable Disease” – An illness due to a specific infectious agent or its toxic products which arises through transmission of that agent or its products from a reservoir to a susceptible host either directly as from an infected person or animal or indirectly through an intermediate plant or animal host, vector or the inanimate environment.

(7) “Contact” – A person or animal that has been in such association with an infected person or animal or a contaminated environment as to have had opportunity to acquire the infection. This will include household members or persons who frequent the dwelling of the case or carrier. For sexually transmitted diseases contact means a sex/needle sharing partner.

(8) “County Health Department” – A public health department created under Part I, Chapter 154, F.S.

(9) “Department” – The State of Florida, Department of Health.

(10) “Electronic Data Transfer” – The sending and receiving of messages via standard electronic formats and established file transfer protocols, which contain data elements that would normally be contained on a typical business document or form.

(11) “Enteric Disease” – An infection or condition transmitted by ingestion of such agents as Campylobacter jejuni, Cyclospora cayetanensis, Cryptosporidium parvum, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and other pathogenic E. coli, hepatitis A, Giardia lamblia, Salmonella species, Shigella species and Vibrio cholerae.

(12) “Epidemiological Investigations” – An inquiry into the incidence, distribution and source of diseases or conditions to determine its cause, means of prevention or control, and efficacy of control measures.

(13) “Epizootic” – The occurrence in animals in a community, institution, region or other defined area of a group of cases of an illness of similar nature in excess of normal expectancy.

(14) “Exposure to Rabies” – Any bite, scratch or other situation in which saliva or nervous tissue of a potentially rabid animal enters an open or fresh wound, or comes in contact with mucous membranes by entering the eye, mouth or nose of another animal or person.

(15) “Fasta Files” – Standard text-based format for representing nucleic acid sequences that are generated when performing a genotype.

(16) “Health Authorities” – The State Health Officer or any local county health department director or administrator or their designee; any chief health official of any municipality, county, or state in the United States, of any foreign nation or of any international organization of which the United States is a member.

(17) “Health Level 7 (HL7)” – An industry standard for electronic data exchange between healthcare entities.

(18) “Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Exposed Newborn” – An infant 18 months of age or younger born to an HIV infected woman.

(19) “Outbreak” – An increase in the number of cases of a disease or condition compared to the expected number in a particular period of time and geographical area. For diseases where the expected number is zero, a single case constitutes an outbreak.

(20) “Practical Method of Quarantine” – A location where a person infected with or exposed to an infectious agent that threatens public health will have food, clothing and shelter as necessary while separated and restricted from contact with people who have not been infected with that disease or immunized against that infection.

(21) “Probable” – A case that meets the clinical criteria for a communicable disease and the epidemiologic criteria for likely exposure to the infectious agent but is unable to be confirmed.

(22) “Sensitive Situation” – A setting in which the presence of a case would increase significantly the probability of spread of the diagnosed or suspected disease or condition and would, therefore, constitute a public health hazard. Examples of such settings are: schools, child-care facilities, hospitals and other patient-care facilities, food storage, food processing establishments or food outlets.

(23) “Sexually Transmissible Disease” – Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Chancroid, Chlamydia trachomatis, Gonorrhea, Granuloma Inguinale, Hepatitis A through D, Herpes simplex virus (HSV), Human immunodeficiency virus Infection (HIV), Human papillomavirus (HPV), Lymphogranuloma Venereum (LGV), and Syphilis.

(24) “Source of Infection” – The person, animal, object or substance from which an infectious agent passes directly or indirectly to the host.

(25) “STARHS” – Serologic Testing Algorithm for Recent HIV Seroconversion – A surveillance test performed on confirmed HIV positive specimens using the BED assay, approved by the Food and Drug Administration for surveillance purposes.

(26) “Suspect” or “Suspect Case” – A person or animal whose medical history and symptoms suggest the imminent development of a notifiable or other communicable disease or condition, or a person or animal with a disease not yet diagnosed.

(27) “Terminal Disinfection” – Cleaning procedures designed to eradicate infectious agents or unsafe conditions from the physical environment.

(28) “Urgent Public Health Significance” – A characteristic of a disease or condition that requires rapid public health response due to the:

(a) Potential to cause significant morbidity or mortality;

(b) Potential for infectiousness between humans or spread to humans; and

(c) The number of cases.

Rulemaking Authority 381.0011(2), 381.003(2), 381.0031(8), 384.33, 392.66 FS. Law Implemented 381.0011(3), 381.003(1), 381.0031, 384.23, 392.52 FS. History–New 11-20-06, Amended 11-24-08.