Reporting Unusual or Increased Case Incidence of Any Suspect Infectious Illness

On this page:
What to report
How to report
Submitting clinical materials 
Who is required to report
More about infectious disease reporting

What to report

Unusual or increased case incidence of any suspect infectious illness must be reported to MDH immediately 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

• Cases, suspected cases, or increased incidence
  • Any pattern of cases, suspected cases, or increased incidence of any illness beyond the expected number of cases in a given period, which may indicate a newly recognized infectious agent, an outbreak, epidemic, emerging drug resistance, or public health hazard, including suspected or confirmed outbreaks of food or waterborne disease, epidemic viral gastroenteritis, and any disease known or presumed to be transmitted by transfusion of blood or blood products, shall be reported immediately by telephone, by the person having knowledge.
• Unexplained death or critical illness
  • Unexplained deaths and unexplained critical illness (possibly due to infectious cause)

How to report unusual or increased case incidence

• Call 651-201-5414 or 877-676-5414 immediately to report unusual or increased case incidence. 
  24-7 Phone Reporting
  This disease must be reported immediately by phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
   
• Please provide as much of the following information as is known:
  • disease (whether a case, suspected case, carrier, or death)
  • date of first symptoms
  • primary signs and symptoms
  • patient name, birthdate, gender, ethnic and racial origin, residence address (including city, county, and zip code), telephone number, place of work/school/child care;
  • date of report
  • health care practitioner name, address, and telephone number
  • name of hospital (if any)
  • name of person reporting (if not health care practitioner)
  • diagnostic laboratory findings and dates of tests
  • name and locating information of contacts (if any)
  • vaccination history for the disease reported
  • pregnancy status and expected date of delivery, if the infection can be transmitted during pregnancy or delivery
  • other information pertinent to the case

Submitting clinical materials

For unusual or increased case incidence, submission of clinical materials to MDH is required upon request.

• Clinical Materials 
  Clinical materials must be submitted according to the guidelines.

Who is required to report

• Health care practitioners (health care facilities, medical laboratories, and in certain circumstances veterinarians and veterinary medical laboratories) are required to report disease to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) under Minnesota state law.
  • Unless previously reported, every licensed health care provider who provides care to any patient who has, is suspected of having, or has died from a reportable disease is required to report.
• Any person in charge of any institution, school, child care facility, or camp is also required to report disease to MDH.
   
• Persons Required to Report Disease
  More information about who is required to report disease.

More about infectious disease reporting

• Infectious Disease Reporting
  Find out which infectious diseases must be reported by law in Minnesota, who is required to report diseases, how each disease can be reported, and download the appropriate forms.