Disease Reporting for Providers

You play an important role in our efforts to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

We provide guidance, education, follow up, and surveillance for state reportable diseases and conditions as outlined in Wisconsin state statute Wis. Admin Code ch DHS 145 Control of Communicable Diseases. Diseases and conditions that are reportable are considered to have significant public health impact and any confirmed or suspect cases must be reported promptly.

What Needs to be Reported

Any Health Care Provider or School is required to report state-reportable diseases and conditions. Per licensing requirements, licensed child care facilities are also required to report these same communicable diseases and conditions.

Category I diseases must be reported to us:

IMMEDIATELY by phone (608) 266-4821 AND
Within 24 hours electronically through the Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WEDSS) (preferred) or by fax (608)266-4858

If you are calling outside of our regular business hours of Monday – Friday, 7:45am – 4:30pm, please leave a message about the Category I disease and include a callback number. See below for when to use the 24/7 public health emergency line.

Category II diseases must be reported within 72 hours to us:

through Wisconsin Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WEDSS), OR
by phone (608) 266-4821, OR
by fax (608) 266-4858 using one of the disease reporting forms below

General reporting requirements are described in Wis. Stat. ch. 252 Communicable Diseases. Specific reporting requirements are described in Wis. Admin Code. ch. DHS 145 Control of Communicable Diseases. More guidance on COVID-19 reporting can be found on the COVID-19: Health Care Providers webpage and the Reporting COVID-19 section below.

Expand all

Communicable Disease Report Form. Complete for all diseases not listed below.
Animal Bite Report Form
Lyme Disease Report Form
Measles Suspect Data Form
Pertussis Suspect Report Form (PDF version)
Sexually Transmitted Infection Report Form
Tuberculosis Reporting Requirements & Isolation Information
Varicella Report Form
HIV should be reported directly to the Wisconsin HIV Program

In Wisconsin, confirmed or suspected outbreaks of any disease in health care facilities, including long term care facilities (LTCFs), are a Category I Disease, meaning they must be reported immediately. For facilities in Dane County, this reporting requirement may be fulfilled by faxing the appropriate form below.

Acute Respiratory Illness Outbreaks

Long Term Care Facility Acute Respiratory Illness Outbreak Report Form
Reporting, Prevention and Control of Acute Respiratory Illness Outbreaks in Long-Term Care Facilities
Outbreak Line Lists from LTCFs are strongly encouraged to maintain and update a line list during an ARI or COVID-19 outbreak to organize case information. While LTCFs are no longer required to report these line lists to their local or tribal health department (LTHD), the Department of Health Services (DHS) recommends that facilities continue to share them with public health as part of shared outbreak response.

Norovirus and Other Gastrointestinal Illness Outbreaks

COVID-19 Hospitalizations

COVID-19 Hospitalizations are a Category II reportable condition. Acute Care Hospitals in Dane County should report COVID-19-associated hospitalizations, defined as a patient who is hospitalized (>24 hours) as a result of a COVID-19 compatible illness and with laboratory evidence for COVID-19, by submitting a WEDSS report within 72 hours of being detected.

COVID-19 Pediatric Deaths

COVID-19 pediatric deaths are a Category II reportable condition. Acute Care Hospitals, Coroners, and Medical Examiners in Dane County should report COVID-19-associated pediatric mortality by submitting a WEDSS report within 72 hours of being detected. A COVID-19-associated pediatric death is defined as either of the following:

A death in a person <18 years old as a result of a COVID-19 compatible illness with laboratory evidence for COVID-19 OR
A death in a person <18 years old meeting vital records criteria with no confirmatory or presumptive laboratory evidence for COVID-19.

COVID-19 Outbreaks

Outbreaks of COVID-19 are a Category 1 reportable condition and should be reported to Public Health within 24 hours of being detected. Dane County facilities can report an outbreak with our survey.

The definition of a COVID-19 outbreak within specific settings can be found on the following web pages:

Long Term Care
Schools & Child Care
For all other settings, a COVID-19 outbreak is defined as two or more laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases who were present at the facility with episode dates within 14 days of each other and no known contact outside of the facility.

Infection prevention and control involves practices and measures to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in all healthcare settings and the community. This includes hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment, isolation precautions, environmental cleaning and disinfection, respiratory hygiene/cough etiquette, waste management and other practices to help reduce the transmission of infectious diseases.

We work with healthcare providers and infection prevention staff to guide and support infection prevention and control programs to reduce the risk of communicable disease transmission.

Have questions or need help? Contact us!

24/7 Public Health Emergency Line

In the event of a public health emergency, we have a 24/7 number for health care professionals. Please call 608-267-3913 and leave a message with the dispatcher, who will contact our on-call staff.

Examples of public health emergencies include

Cases of meningitis
Measles
Active or suspected pulmonary TB
Hepatitis A (if the patient is a food handler, daycare provider/attendee, or health care worker)
Ebola

If you have questions about coronavirus, please call us at 608-266-4821, Monday through Friday from 8:00 am - 4:30 pm.

Communicable Disease Updates

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See past issues of our communicable disease newsletter.