§ 34-51. Definitions.

Administrator means the person in charge of an institution including, but not limited to, the chief executive officer, chairperson of the board, president, clinician in charge, or any equivalent position, or the authorized designee of any such person.

Advanced practice nurse means a nurse who has education beyond the basic nursing education and is certified by a nationally recognized professional organization as having a nursing specialty, or who meets the criteria for advanced practice nurses established by the state board of nursing.

Agent means a factor, such as a microorganism, chemical substance, or form of radiation, whose presence, excessive presence, or relative absence is essential for the occurrence of a disease.

Blood donating center means an entity that recruits blood donors and processes and distributes blood.

Carrier means a person or animal that harbors a specific infectious agent in the absence of discernible clinical disease and serves as a potential source of infection.

Case means a person or animal identified as having the particular disease, health disorder, or condition under investigation.

Child care facility means any house or other place conducted or maintained by any person who advertises or holds himself out as providing care for children, regardless of the number of children, unless otherwise specified in this article. The term "child care facility" also includes all preschools and nursery schools and other such entities. It does not include persons who provide child care services/day care on a short-term non-regular temporary basis.

Communicable disease means an illness caused by an infectious agent or its toxic products that arises through transmission of that agent or its products from an infected person, animal, or reservoir of infection to a susceptible person or animal, either directly or indirectly through an intermediate plant or animal or person, vector, or the inanimate environment.

Contagious means the same thing as "communicable disease."

Containment means localized eradication of a communicable disease.

Control means operations or programs aimed at eliminating or reducing the incidence and/or prevalence of communicable diseases.

Director means the director of health for the city, or his or her designee.

Disease means a state of physiological or psychological dysfunction.

Disease condition means any health problem listed as reportable under section 34-54.

Duty officer means a health department employee available by pager or phone 24 hours/day, seven days/week to respond to urgent needs.

Environment means all that is external to the person or animal.

Eradication means termination of transmission of infection by extermination of the agent through surveillance and containment.

Exposure means the absorption, ingestion or inhalation of chemical, radiological or other agents by a person or animal that results in biochemical, physiological or histological changes.

Health department means the health department of the City of Kansas City, Missouri.

HIPAA means the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and subsequent amendments. Often referred to as the Health Care Privacy Act, HIPAA is federal legislation that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information. For purposes of public health investigations, covered entities may disclose protected health information without authorization to public health authorities who are legally authorized to receive such reports for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury or disability.

Immunization means the treatment which renders a person less susceptible to the pathologic effects of a disease or provides a measure of protection against the disease.

Incubation period means the time interval between invasion by an infectious agent and the appearance of the first sign or symptom of the disease in question.

Infection means the entry and development or multiplication of an infectious agent in the body of a person or animal.

Infectious means the same thing as "communicable disease."

Institution means any public or private hospital, nursing home, clinic, mental health facility, or home health agency, or medical or professional corporation, association or person.

Isolate means recovery or the demonstration of a microorganism by prevailing laboratory techniques.

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

Medical record means a file of information relating to transaction(s) in personal health care. In addition to facts about a patient's illness, the medical record may contain other information of importance to the health disease or condition under investigation.

Period of communicability means the period of time during which an etiologic agent may be transferred, directly or indirectly, from an infected person or animal to another person or animal.

Person means any human, individual, partnership, corporation, association, institution, city, county, other political subdivision authority, state agency or institution or federal agency or institution.

Physician means a professional person qualified by education and authorized by law to practice medicine.

Physician's assistant means a professional person qualified by education and authorized by law to engage in the examination or treatment of patients while under the supervision, control and responsibility of a licensed physician,

Plasma center means an entity that recruits blood donors and processes and distributes plasma for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products.

Quarantine means the restriction of the activities of persons or animals who have been exposed to a case of communicable disease during its period of communicability to prevent disease transmission during the incubation period if infection should occur. Quarantine may be absolute or modified with regards to limitation of freedom of movement.

Reportable disease/health condition means any disease or condition which must be reported to the director of health under the provisions of this article.

Reservoir of infection means the natural habitat of the infectious agent.

School means a public or private organization that provides instruction to persons from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Smallpox vaccination means vaccination with vaccinia vaccine to produce immunity to the smallpox virus.

Source of infection means the person, animal, object or substance from which an infectious agent is transmitted.

Surveillance means the continuing scrutiny of all aspects of occurrence and spread of a disease that are pertinent to effective control.

Syndrome means a symptom complex in which the symptoms and/or signs coexist more frequently than would be expected by chance.

Threat to others means a carrier who is likely to place others at risk of infection through behavior, proximity, or other circumstances.

Transmission of infection means any mechanism by which an infectious agent is spread from a source or reservoir of infection to another person or animal.

Vector means an insect or any living carrier that transports an infectious agent from an infected person or his waste to a susceptible person or his food or immediate surroundings.

Veterinarian means a professional person qualified by education and authorized by law to practice veterinary medicine.

Zoonotic diseases means communicable diseases transmissible from an animal to a person.

(Ord. No. 170708 , § 1, 9-28-17)