Chapter 1. Prevention And Control of California Health And Safety Code >> Division 105. >> Part 3. >> Chapter 1.

As used in the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Act (Section 27) "venereal diseases" means syphilis, gonorrhea, chancroid, lymphopathia venereum, granuloma inguinale, and chlamydia.

The department shall develop and review plans and provide leadership and consultation for, and participate in, a program for the prevention and control of venereal disease.

The department shall cooperate in the prevention, control, and cure of venereal diseases with physicians and surgeons; medical schools; public and private hospitals, dispensaries, and clinics; public and private school, college and university authorities; penal and charitable institutions; reform and industrial schools; detention homes; federal, state, local and district health officers, and boards of health, and all other health authorities; institutions caring for the mentally ill; and with any other persons, institutions, or agencies.

The department shall investigate conditions affecting the prevention and control of venereal diseases and approved procedures for prevention and control, and shall disseminate educational information relative thereto.

The department shall conduct educational and publicity work as it may deem necessary; and, from time to time, shall cause to be issued, free of charge, copies of regulations, pamphlets, and other literature as it deems reasonably necessary.

The department may establish, maintain, and subsidize clinics, dispensaries, and prophylactic stations for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of venereal diseases, and may provide medical, advisory, financial, or other assistance to the clinics, dispensaries, and stations as may be approved by it. No clinic, dispensary, or prophylactic station shall be approved unless it meets the requirements of the board and complies with its regulations.

The department may furnish treatment for a case or for a group of cases in rural counties or cities upon the recommendation of the local health officer if adequate facilities for the treatment are not available in the county or city.

Any state agency conducting a public hospital shall admit acute venereal disease cases, when, in the opinion of the department or the local health officer having jurisdiction, persons infected with venereal disease may be a menace to public health.

The department may require any physician in attendance on a person infected or suspected of being infected with a venereal disease infection to submit specimens as may be designated for examination, when in its opinion the procedure is reasonably necessary to carry out the provisions and purposes of this chapter.

The examination may be made in the state laboratory or in a local public health laboratory designated by the department or in a clinical laboratory that is under the immediate supervision and direction of a clinical laboratory technologist or a licensed physician and surgeon.

Nothing in this chapter limits any person's freedom to have additional examinations made elsewhere than specified in this chapter.

Every diseased person shall give all information required by this chapter, including the name and address of any person from whom the disease may have been contracted and to whom the disease may have been transmitted.

Every diseased person shall from time to time submit to approved examinations to determine the condition of the disease.

If any person subject to proper venereal disease control measures discontinues any control procedure required by this chapter, the agency administering the procedure prior to the discontinuance shall make reasonable efforts to determine whether the person is continuing to comply with the procedure elsewhere.

If it appears reasonably likely that the person is not complying with the procedure elsewhere, the agency that was administering the procedure prior to the discontinuance shall make all reasonable efforts to induce the person to comply; and if it thereafter appears reasonably likely that he or she has failed to comply, shall report his or her name and address to the local health officer or board of health, or to the department where there is no local health officer or board.

It is the duty of the local health officers to use every available means to ascertain the existence of cases of infectious venereal diseases within their respective jurisdictions, to investigate all cases that are not, or probably are not, subject to proper control measures approved by the board, to ascertain so far as possible all sources of infection, and to take all measures reasonably necessary to prevent the transmission of infection.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person employed by a public health department may perform venipuncture or skin puncture for the purpose of withdrawing blood for test purposes, upon specific authorization from a licensed physician and surgeon, even though he or she is not otherwise licensed to withdraw blood; provided that the person meets all of the following requirements:
  (1) He or she works under the direction of a licensed physician and surgeon.
  (2) He or she has been trained by a licensed physician and surgeon or by a licensed clinical laboratory scientist or bioanalyst in the proper procedures to be employed when withdrawing blood, in accordance with training requirements established by the department, and has a statement signed by the instructing physician and surgeon that the training has been successfully completed.
  (b) Any person employed by a public health department to perform venipuncture or skin puncture shall hold a valid and current certification after the effective date of the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 1246 of the Business and Professions Code.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a physician and surgeon who diagnoses a sexually transmitted chlamydia, gonorrhea, or other sexually transmitted infection, as determined by the department, in an individual patient may prescribe, dispense, furnish, or otherwise provide prescription antibiotic drugs to that patient's sexual partner or partners without examination of that patient's partner or partners. The department may adopt regulations to implement this section.
  (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a nurse practitioner pursuant to Section 2836.1 of the Business and Professions Code, a certified nurse-midwife pursuant to Section 2746.51 of the Business and Professions Code, and a physician assistant pursuant to Section 3502.1 of the Business and Professions Code may dispense, furnish, or otherwise provide prescription antibiotic drugs to the sexual partner or partners of a patient with a diagnosed sexually transmitted chlamydia, gonorrhea, or other sexually transmitted infection, as determined by the department, without examination of the patient's sexual partner or partners.

Local health officers may inspect and quarantine any place or person when the procedure is necessary to enforce the regulations of the board or the department.

It is the duty of the district attorney of the county where a violation of this chapter may occur to prosecute the person accused of the violation.

In any prosecution for a violation of any provision of this chapter, or any rule or regulation of the board made pursuant to this chapter, or in any quarantine proceeding authorized by this chapter, or in any habeas corpus or other proceeding in which the legality of the quarantine is questioned, any physician, health officer, spouse, or other person shall be competent and may be required to testify against any person against whom the prosecution or other proceeding was instituted, and the privileges provided by Sections 970, 971, 980, 994, and 1014 of the Evidence Code are not applicable to or in any such prosecution or proceeding.

Any person who refuses to give any information to make any report, to comply with any proper control measure or examination, or to perform any other duty or act required by this chapter, or who violates any provision of this chapter or any rule or regulation of the state board issued pursuant to this chapter, or who exposes any person to or infects any person with any venereal disease; or any person infected with a venereal disease in an infectious state who knows of the condition and who marries or has sexual intercourse, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to interfere with the freedom of any adherent of teachings of any well-recognized religious sect, denomination, or organization to depend exclusively upon prayer for healing in accordance with the teachings of the religious sect, denomination, or organization. Any such person, along with any person treating him or her, shall be exempt from all provisions of this chapter regarding venereal diseases, except that the provisions of this code and the regulations of the board regarding compulsory reporting of communicable diseases and the quarantine of those diseases, and regarding callings that a person with venereal disease may not engage, shall apply.