FAQS - HIV/AIDS SURVEILLANCE & MONITORING

Timely and accurate HIV/AIDS case reports provide Orange County with a better understanding of our local epidemic. Epidemiologists can monitor trends in populations being affected by HIV infection, project future numbers of HIV/AIDS cases and provide information for those responsible for planning for future health care needs and prevention and educational activities.

Failure to report in a timely manner may have an impact on current and projected funding needs. Funding formulas using data that represents under-reporting of HIV/AIDS cases may translate into under-funded programs and services for those with HIV infection.

See Healthcare Provider Resources, for reporting forms, reporting guidelines, and regulations, and other provider reporting aides.

HIV/AIDS is a condition listed in California's disease reporting regulations. The statute reads: "Every health care provider knowing of or in attendance on a case or suspected case of a disease/condition in Section 2500 is required to make a report. When a health care provider is not in attendance on a case, any individual having knowledge of a person with one of the reportable diseases or conditions is required to notify the local health department."
Health care providers and laboratory directors or their designees are required to report all patients with a test indicative of HIV to the local health department (HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program). When a laboratory has a test indicative of HIV infection, they report a limited amount of information to the HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program.  Surveillance staff will visit the provider to complete the case report or the provider forwards a completed case report form to the HIV/AIDS Surveillance and Monitoring Program.  Call 714-834-7748 for more information.

Report an HIV case when a patient has a test result indicative of HIV infection (to report an AIDS case, see Reporting AIDS below). Tests indicative of HIV infection include:

• Confirmed positive HIV antibody test
• Any viral load test
• Positive P24 antigen test
• Positive viral isolation test
• Positive Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT)

Providers report a patient once when a test result is indicative of HIV infection and once again if the individual meets the AIDS case definition. Always report a case even if you think the patient may have been reported by another provider. This helps ensure complete case capture, which is critical for local prevention and treatment funding.

When an individual is diagnosed with one or more of the AIDS defining conditions listed below, their HIV care providers are required to report the case to the HIV/AIDS Surveillance and Monitoring Program within 7 days of the diagnosis: (For HIV infected individuals, definitive or presumptive)

• CD4+ T-lymphocyte count <200 mL/mm3 or <14% of total T-lymphocytes
• Candidiasis of the bronchi, trachea, or lungs
• Candidiasis, esophageal
• Cervical cancer, invasive
• Coccidioidomycosis, disseminated or extra pulmonary
• Cryptococcosis, extra-pulmonary
• Cryptosporidiosis, chronic intestinal
• Cytomegalovirus disease
• Cytomegalovirus retinitis
• Encephalopathy, HIV-related
• Herpes simplex: chronic ulcers; or bronchitis, pneumonitis or esophagitis
• Histoplasmosis, disseminated or extra pulmonary
• Isosporiasis, chronic intestinal
• Kaposi's Sarcoma
• Lymphoma, Burkitt's
• Lymphoma, immunoblastic
• Lymphoma, primary in the brain
• Mycobacterium avium complex or M. kansasii, disseminated or extra pulmonary
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis, any site
• Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
• Pneumonia, recurrent
• Progressive multifocal Leukoencephalopathy
• Salmonella septicemia, recurrent
• Toxoplasmosis of the brain
• Wasting syndrome due to HIV

For Pediatric HIV/AIDS case reporting, please call 714-834-7748.

The original case definition of AIDS was established by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 1981. Additional conditions and diseases were added in 1985, 1987 and 1993. All case definitions and revisions are published in the CDC's publication entitled 'Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report' (MMWR).

Reports of HIV/AIDS cases to the Surveillance Program shall include, but are not limited to, name, address, phone, racial/ethnic group, gender, date of birth, mode of transmission information, diagnosis and date of diagnosis and the name, address and phone of the person or facility making the report.

The Surveillance Program is required by law to protect the privacy of any individual reported with HIV/AIDS.

No confidential information should be faxed or emailed.