16 Del. Admin. Code § 4202-1.0
The following words and terms, when used in this regulation, have the following meaning:
"Case" means a person whose body has been invaded by an infectious agent with the result that clinical symptoms have occurred.
"CDC" means the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that works to protect public health and safety by providing information to enhance health decisions and promoting health through partnerships with state health departments and other organizations. The CDC is dedicated to protecting health and promoting quality of life through the prevention and control of disease, injury, and disability. As the national public health agency for the United States, the CDC is committed to programs that reduce the health and economic consequences of leading causes of death and disability, thereby ensuring a long, productive, healthy life for all people. The CDC provides the standard national measures for healthcare-associated infections as well as analytic tools that enable each facility to assess its progress and identify where additional prevention or response efforts are needed.
"Child care facility" means any organization or business created for, and having as its major purpose, the daily care or education of children under the age of seven years.
"Communicable disease" see "Contagious disease".
"Contact" means a person or animal that has been in such association with an infected person or animal or a contaminated environment as to have had exposure to the infection.
"Contagious disease" means an infectious disease that can be transmitted from person to person, or animal to person.
"Designee" means the person named by the Director of the Division of Public Health to assume a specific responsibility.
"Division" or "DPH" means the Delaware Division of Public Health.
"Division Director" means the Director of the Division of Public Health.
"Directly observed therapy" or "DOT" means an adherence-enhancing strategy in which a health care worker or other designated person observes the patient to ensure each dose of medication is swallowed.
"DPHL" means the Division of Public Health Laboratory.
"Epidemic" means the occurrence in persons in a community, institution, region, or other defined area of cases of an illness of similar nature clearly in excess of normal expectancy.
"Health care provider" means any person or entity who provides health care services, including hospitals, medical clinics and offices, special care facilities, medical laboratories, physicians, pharmacists, dentists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered and other nurses, paramedics, emergency medical or laboratory technicians, and ambulance and emergency medical workers.
"Human immunodeficiency virus" or "HIV" means the presence of repeatedly reactive screening tests for HIV antibody in accord with the CDC case definition of HIV and DPHL endorsed diagnostic protocols.
"Infectious disease" means a disease caused by a living organism or other pathogen, including a fungus, bacillus, parasite, protozoan, or virus. An infectious disease may or may not be transmissible from person to person or animal to person.
"Isolation" means the physical separation and confinement of an individual or group of individuals who are infected or reasonably believed to be infected with a contagious or possibly contagious disease from non-isolated individuals to prevent or limit the transmission of the disease.
"Medical Examiner" means a physician appointed pursuant to 29 Del.C. § 4703 or § 7903(a)(3) who is authorized to investigate the causes and circumstances of death.
"Nosocomial disease" or "healthcare-associated infection" means a disease occurring in a patient in a healthcare facility and in whom it was not present or incubating at the time of admission.
"Reportable disease" means an infectious disease or condition of public health significance required to be reported to the Division of Public Health in accordance with this regulation. A subset of reportable diseases is shared with the CDC and referred to as national notifiable conditions.
"Notification" means a written, electronic, or verbal report as required by any section of this regulation.
"Outbreak" - see "Epidemic".
"Public health emergency" is an occurrence or imminent threat of an illness or health condition that is believed to be caused by any of the following:
And, which poses a high probability of any of the following harms:
"Quarantine" means the physical separation and confinement of an individual or group of individuals who are or may have been exposed to a contagious or possibly contagious disease but who do not yet show signs or symptoms of the contagious disease from non-quarantined individuals to prevent or limit the transmission of the disease.
"Resistant organism" or "drug-resistant organism" means any organism which traditionally was inactivated or killed by a drug but has, over time, developed mechanisms to render that drug ineffective.
"Sensitive situation" means a setting, as determined by the Director of the Division of Public Health or designee, in which the presence of a person or animal infected with or suspected of being infected with a reportable or other communicable disease or condition which may affect the public health would increase significantly the probability of spread of such disease and would, therefore, constitute a public health hazard, but not a public health emergency as defined in 20 Del.C. § 3132(11). Sensitive situations may include schools, child care facilities, hospitals, and other patient-care facilities, food storage, food processing establishments or food outlets.
"Source of infection" means the person, animal, object, or substance from which an infectious agent passes directly to the host.
"Suspect" means a person or animal whose medical history and symptoms suggest that the person or animal may have or may be developing an infectious disease condition.
"Syndromic surveillance" means surveillance using signs and symptoms that precede diagnosis and may signal a sufficient probability of a case or an outbreak to warrant further public health response.
16 Del. Admin. Code § 4202-1.0
17 DE Reg. 320 (9/1/2013)
23 DE Reg. 665 (2/1/2020)
24 DE Reg. 791 (2/1/2021)
27 DE Reg. 863 (5/1/2024) (Final)