Reporting
Health care providers and other individuals and organizations are required to report certain illnesses to the local health department. See the current lists of reportable diseases for health care providers and laboratories and the required reporting timeframe. Visit the California Department of Public Health page for additional reporting information. Health care providers must report diseases even if the laboratory has already reported. Data from these reporting forms are used for statistics on mortality, morbidity, health behavior, and health outcomes which aid our communities and leaders in developing effective public health policies and programs. See the latest health data reports.
If you have questions regarding reporting or need to report a disease urgently, please call (408) 885-4214.
Thank you for your assistance in caring for our community through monitoring and investigating communicable diseases.
Who is required to report a communicable disease?
- Medical doctors, osteopaths, veterinarians, podiatrists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, nurse midwives, infection control practitioners, medical examiners, coroners, dentists, and administrators of health facilities and clinics (California Code of Regulations (CCR, Title 17, Section 2500).
- Anyone in charge of a public or private school, kindergarten, boarding school, or preschool (CCR, Title 17, Section 2508).
- Laboratories (CCR, Title 17, Section 2505).
Note that all three groups are required to report independent of one another. For example, if a provider knows that a lab has already reported a disease, the provider is still required to report the disease.
How to report
HIV and AIDS
- Adult HIV/AIDS Case Report Form
- Pediatric HIV/AIDS Confidential Case Report Form
- Case reporting resources
COVID-19
- COVID-19 Confidential Morbidity Report (CMR) Form
- Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) Form
Tuberculosis
- Tuberculosis CMR Form
- GOTCH (Tuberculosis Report/Readmission/Transfer/Discharge Plan) Form
- Latent TB Infection CMR Form (for Civil Surgeons)
Perinatal Hepatitis B
-
Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program Patient Information Form
- Hospital Report Form
- Notification of HBsAg-exposed Infant or Child
Communicable disease
Other
- Lapses of Consciousness or Control, Alzheimer's Disease, or Other Condition Which May Impair the Ability to Operate a Motor Vehicle Safely CMR Form
- Animal Patients CMR Form
Fax numbers
- All diseases except TB and HIV: (408) 885-3709
- TB: (408) 885-2331
- HIV: (408) 792-3721
CMR form Instructions
- On first line of form, write the disease, and if applicable, the site of infection. Complete the patient's name, address, and date of birth, phone number, and gender. Social security numbers are not necessary. Enter the medical record number if applicable.
- Identify the whether the patient is pregnant, and if so, the estimated delivery date.
- On the far right, enter the patient's ethnicity and race, if known.
- On the center left, enter the date of onset and date of diagnosis. Enter the date of death if applicable.
- In the center of the form, complete the reporting healthcare provider section. Please include phone and fax numbers.
- The lower half of the page asks for additional information about sexually transmitted diseases, viral hepatitis, and tuberculosis.
- For hepatitis B or C, note whether the infection is chronic or acute.
- For syphilis, include signs and symptoms to support syphilis staging and doses and dates of treatment administered.
- If pertinent lab reports are available, please fax them along with the CMR.
- Please be as complete as possible when entering information. Fax or mail the completed report to the number or address shown on the center right.
- Fax numbers:
- All diseases except TB and HIV: (408) 885-3709
- TB: (408) 885-2331
- HIV: (408) 792-3721
- Fax numbers:
COVID reporting instructions
- Providers are not required to report individual cases, unless they are related to a hospitalization or death.
- Providers must submit MIS-C Form for all MIS-C cases.
- Labs must report all positive COVID tests.
- Find school outbreak information.
- Find Long Term Care Facility outbreak information.
Reportable diseases
Title 17 California Code of Regulations (CCR) Section 2500 Reportable Diseases and Conditions:
Report immediately by phone
- Anthrax, human or animal
- Botulism (Infant, Foodborne, Wound, Other)
- Brucellosis, human
- Cholera
- Ciguatera Fish Poisoning
- Dengue Virus Infection
- Diphtheria
- Domoic Acid Poisoning (Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning)
- Flavivirus infection of undermined species
- Foodborne disease (when two or more cases or suspected cases of foodborne disease from separate households are suspected to have the same source of illness)
- Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome
- Influenza due to novel strains (human)
- Measles (Rubeola)
- Meningococcal Infections
- Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
- Novel Coronavirus Infection
- Novel Virus Infection with Pandemic Potential
- Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning
- Plague, Human or Animal
- Rabies, human or animal
- Scombroid Fish Poisoning
- Shiga toxin (detected in feces)
- Smallpox (Variola)
- Tularemia, human
- Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers, human or animal (Crimean-Congo, Ebola, Lassa, and Marburg viruses)
- Occurrence of any unusual disease
- Outbreak of any disease (including diseases not listed in §2500). Specify if institutional and/or open community.
Report by phone within one working day
- Candida auris, colonization of infection
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), acute infection
- Monkeypox or orthopox virus infection
Report by phone, mail or electronic transmission within one working day
- Babesiosis
- Campylobacteriosis
- Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Outbreaks, hospitalizations, deaths, MIS-C)
- Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)
- Chickenpox (Varicella) (Outbreaks, hospitalizations and deaths)
- Chikungunya Virus Infection
- Cryptosporidiosis
- Dengue Virus Infection
- Encephalitis, Specify Etiology: Viral, Bacterial, Fungal, Parasitic
- Escherichia coli: shiga toxin producing (STEC) including E. coli O157
- Foodborne Disease
- Haemophilus influenzae, invasive disease, all serotypes (report an incident less than 5 years of age)
- Hantavirus Infections
- Hepatitis A, acute infection
- Listeriosis
- Malaria
- Meningitis, Specify Etiology: Viral, Bacterial, Fungal, Parasitic
- Paratyphoid Fever
- Pertussis (Whooping Cough)
- Poliovirus Infection
- Psittacosis
- Q Fever
- Relapsing Fever
- Salmonellosis (Other Than Typhoid Fever)
- Shigellosis
- Syphilis (all stages, including congenital)
- Trichinosis
- Tuberculosis
- Typhoid Fever, Cases and Carriers
- Vibrio infections
- West Nile Virus (WNV) Infection
- Yellow Fever
- Yersiniosis
- Zika Virus Infection
Report by phone, mail, or electronic transmission within 7 calendar days
- Anaplasmosis
- Brucellosis, animal (except infections due to Brucella canis)
- Chancroid
- Coccidioidomycosis
- Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD) and other Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSE)
- Cyclosporiasis
- Cysticercosis or Taeniasis
- Ehrlichiosis
- Giardiasis
- Gonococcal Infections
- Hepatitis B (specify acute, chronic, or perinatal)
- Hepatisis C (specify acute, chronic, or perinatal)
- Hepatitis D (Delta) (specify acute case or chronic)
- Hepatitis E, acute infection
- HIV and Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), any stage (traceable mail only)
- HIV infection, progression to stage 3 (AIDS) (traceable mail only)
- Influenza- associated deaths in laboratory-confirmed cases less than 18 years of age
- Legionellosis
- Leprosy (Hansen's Disease)
- Leptospirosis
- Lyme Disease
- Mumps
- Respiratory Syncytial Virus-associated deaths in laboratory-confirmed cases less than five years of age
- Rickettsial Diseases (non-Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever), including Typhus and Typhus-like illnesses
- Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
- Rubella (German Measles)
- Rubella Syndrome, Congenital
- Tetanus
- Toxoplasmosis
- Tularemia, animal