Committee adopts updates to reportable-disease rules, adds changes for lead and hemorrhagic fevers

The House Health and Welfare Committee voted to adopt amendments to the state's reportable-disease administrative code that agency staff said consolidate language and introduce two substantive changes addressing lead and hemorrhagic fevers.

Jared Larson, chief of staff at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, told the committee that “there are two substantive changes in this rule docket related to lead and hemorrhagic fevers” and that the rest of the edits are reorganization and removal of repetition. The committee moved and approved adoption of docket number 500And1.

Dr. Christine Hahn, state epidemiologist in the Idaho Division of Public Health, explained how the rules treat a “suspected case.” She said a suspected case can be reported when “a physician that is seeing a patient who thinks they might have, measles, they think they might have tuberculosis” and lacks a lab test; reporting a suspected case enables public health to work with clinicians on interventions such as asking the person to stay home or to be isolated when warranted.

Committee members asked for clarification about the definitions in the rules; staff responded that many definitions reference national disease-surveillance case definitions and that reporting of certain suspected cases is included so public health can respond quickly to possible outbreaks.

The committee completed consideration of the rule dockets and the motion to adopt docket 500And1 carried. The adopted language will be reflected in the administrative code and will be implemented by the Department of Health and Welfare through its routine public-health operations.