Basingstoke and north hampshire hospital pathology user handbook

Special note on Meningococcal Serology and PCR
In order to confirm the diagnosis of meningococcal disease in patients who have already received antibiotics the following are necessary:

- An acute specimen of clotted blood taken around the time of admission.

- An EDTA sample of blood taken on admission.

- A convalescent specimen of clotted blood taken about seven days after the onset of symptoms.

These tests are carried out at Manchester PHL
Communicable Diseases
The following diseases (or suspicion of) are notifiable by law to the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control; the clinician who considers or diagnoses the infection is responsible for the notification. Persistent carriers of typhoid bacilli and other Salmonellae should also be reported. For optimal in-hospital infection control, the Infection Control Team must also be informed.

List of Notifiable Diseases (2010)

• 
  Acute Encephalitis - bacterial and viral
  
• 
  Acute Meningitis
  
• 
  Acute Poliomyelitis
  
• 
  Acute Infectious Hepatitis
  
• 
  Anthrax
  
• 
  Botulism
  
• 
  Brucellosis
  
• 
  Cholera
  
• 
  Diphtheria
  
• 
  Enteric fever
  
• 
  Food Poisoning (or suspected food poisoning)
  
• 
  Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome (HUS)
  
• 
  Infectious bloody diarrhoea
  
• 
  Invasive Group A Streptococcal disease and Scarlet Fever
  
• 
  Legionnaires’ Disease
  
• 
  Leprosy
  
• 
  Malaria
  
• 
  Measles
  
• 
  Meningococcal septicaemia
  
• 
  Mumps
  
• 
  Plague
  
• 
  Rabies
  
• 
  Rubella
  
• 
  SARS
  
• 
  Smallpox
  
• 
  Tetanus
  
• 
  Tuberculosis - pulmonary and non-pulmonary
  
• 
  Typhus
  
• 
  Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers (VHF)
  
• 
  Viral hepatitis
  
• 
  Whooping Cough
  
• 
  Yellow Fever
  

As of April 2010, it is no longer a requirement to notify the following diseases: dysentery, ophthalmia neonatorum, leptospirosis and relapsing fever.

Notification should be made by telephone in the first instance followed by notification on the official form to:
Hampshire & Isle of Wight HPU
Unit 8

Fulcrum 2

Solent Way

Whiteley

Farham
PO15 7FN

Tel: [phone]

Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

To contact a public health doctor in an emergency out of hours; in the evenings, at weekends or during bank holidays, please call: 02380 77 72 22

Notification by phone only must also be made to the Infection Control Department (Ext. 6774). Out of hours contact the on-call Medical Microbiologist. The Infection Control Department should also be informed of any diseases/pathogens not listed here which present a risk of hospital acquired infection e.g. MRSA, Group A Streptococcus in a wound etc.
Reports

Reports on all specimens are issued to the requesting medical officer immediately the investigations are completed. They can also be seen on the hospital computer system as soon as they have been authorised. Telephone the Department only in cases of urgency. Results thought to be important will be telephoned to the requesting doctor, usually by a Consultant Microbiologist. Under no circumstances will results be given directly to patients.

In addition to final results, the following can be found on the computer as soon as they have been processed:

-CSF microscopy

-the status of blood cultures

Please use this facility as it saves time for both you and the laboratory.

Availability of Results
Please refer to the test index for individual turnaround times.

• 
  Urgent microscopy results 2 hours
  
• 
  Rapid antigen detection tests 4 hours
  
• 
  Some urgent blood tests with prior arrangement Same day
  
• 
  Routine investigations 2-3 days
  
• 
  Non routine investigations 3-7 days
  
• 
  Referral tests 14days
  

Results of urgent clinical or public health significance will be telephoned to the requesting clinician. These include:

• 
  Positive blood cultures
  
• 
  Microscopy of non routine cerebrospinal fluids
  
• 
  Detection of AFB
  
• 
  Significant isolates from faeces samples
  
• 
  Positive CD tests
  
• 
  Isolates of Group A streptococci
  
• 
  Isolates of Group B streptococci from neonates, pre and post
  delivery HVS
  
• 
  Gentamicin assay results
  
• 
  MRSA on initial isolation