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4605.7000 DEFINITIONS.

Subpart 1.

Case.

"Case" means a person or deceased person infected with a particular infectious agent or having a particular disease diagnosed by a health care practitioner.

Subp. 2.

Carrier.

"Carrier" means a person or deceased person identified as harboring a specific infectious agent and who serves as a potential source of infection.

Subp. 3.

Clinical materials.

"Clinical materials" means:

A.

a clinical isolate containing the infectious agent for which submission of material is required; or

B.

if an isolate is not available, material containing the infectious agent for which submission of material is required, in the following order of preference:

(1)

a patient specimen;

(2)

nucleic acid; or

(3)

other laboratory material.

Subp. 4.

Commissioner.

"Commissioner" means the state commissioner of health or authorized officers, employees, or agents of the Minnesota Department of Health.

Subp. 4a.

Community health board.

"Community health board" means authorized administrators, officers, agents, or employees of the county, multicounty, or city organized under Minnesota Statutes, sections 145A.03 to 145A.11.

Subp. 5.

Contact.

"Contact" means a person who may have been exposed to a case, suspected case, or carrier in a manner that could place the person at risk of acquiring the infection based on known or suspected modes of transmission.

Subp. 6.

Critical illness.

"Critical illness" means the condition of a person who is hospitalized in an intensive care unit or who is critically ill in the judgment of a licensed health care provider.

Subp. 6a.

Health care practitioner.

"Health care practitioner" means a Minnesota-licensed doctor of medicine, a Minnesota-licensed physician assistant acting within the scope of authorized practice, or a Minnesota-licensed advanced practice registered nurse or a certified nurse midwife who has the primary responsibility for the care and treatment of a person diagnosed with a disease that is reportable under this chapter.

Subp. 7.

Infection preventionist.

"Infection preventionist " means a person designated by a hospital, nursing home, medical clinic, or other health care facility as having responsibility for prevention, detection, reporting, and control of infections within the facility.

Subp. 8.

Isolation.

"Isolation" means the separation, for the period of communicability, of an infected person from others in places and under the condition as to prevent or limit the direct or indirect transmission of the infectious agent to those who are susceptible or to those who may spread the agent to others.

Subp. 9.

[Repealed, 41 SR 829]

Subp. 10.

Medical laboratory.

"Medical laboratory" means a facility that receives, forwards, or analyzes specimens of original material from the human body, or referred cultures of specimens obtained from the human body, and reports the results to a health care practitioner who uses the data for purposes of patient care.

Subp. 11.

[Repealed, 41 SR 829]

Subp. 12.

Sentinel surveillance.

"Sentinel surveillance" means monitoring a disease or syndrome through reporting of cases, suspected cases, and carriers and submission of clinical materials by selected sites under part 4605.7046.

Subp. 12a.

Submitter.

"Submitter" means a health care practitioner, a medical or veterinary laboratory, a veterinarian, a medical examiner or coroner, or any other individual or entity that is required to submit clinical materials to the Minnesota Department of Health under this chapter.

Subp. 13.

Suspected case.

"Suspected case" means a person or deceased person having a condition or illness in which the signs and symptoms resemble those of a recognized disease.

Subp. 14.

Veterinarian.

"Veterinarian" means a person who is licensed by the Minnesota Board of Veterinary Medicine to practice veterinary medicine.

Subp. 15.

Public health hazard.

"Public health hazard" means the presence of an infectious agent or condition in the environment which endangers the health of a specified population.

Statutory Authority:

MS s 144.05; 144.072; 144.0742; 144.12; 144.122

History:

9 SR 2584; L 1987 c 309 s 24,26; L 1991 c 106 s 6; 20 SR 858; 30 SR 247; L 2015 c 21 art 1 s 109; 41 SR 829; 43 SR 415

Published Electronically:

October 8, 2018

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes