                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 32.1-48.01)

As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:
		&#8220;Appropriate precautions&#8221; means those specific measures which have
been demonstrated by current scientific evidence to assist in preventing
transmission of a communicable disease of public health significance.
Appropriate precautions will vary according to the disease.
		&#8220;At-risk behavior&#8221; means engaging in acts which a person, who has
been informed that he is infected with a communicable disease of public health
significance, knows may infect other persons without taking appropriate
precautions to protect the health of the other persons.
		&#8220;Communicable disease of public health significance&#8221; means an
illness of public health significance, as determined by the State Health
Commissioner, caused by a specific or suspected infectious agent that may be
transmitted directly or indirectly from one individual to another.
		&#8220;Communicable disease of public health significance&#8221; shall
include, but may not be limited to, infections caused by human immunodeficiency
viruses, blood-borne pathogens, and tubercle bacillus. The State Health
Commissioner may determine that diseases caused by other pathogens constitute
communicable diseases of public health significance. Further, &#8220;a
communicable disease of public health significance&#8221; shall become a
&#8220;communicable disease of public health threat&#8221; upon the finding of
the State Health Commissioner of exceptional circumstances pursuant to Article
3.02 (§ 32.1-48.05 et seq.) of this chapter.

HISTORY: 1990, c. 958; 2004, cc. 773, 1021.