INFECTIOUS AND COMMUNICABLE DISEASES.

Dallas City Code ch. 19, art. IV

in effect

Dallas City Code § 19-60 DEFINITIONS.

SEC. 19-60. DEFINITIONS. For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section: (1) ABSOLUTE ISOLATION includes: First, the confinement of the patient and attendants to one room or suite of rooms, to which none but authorized officers or attendants shall have admission; second, screening of room and entire house if necessary with not less than 16-mesh wire gauze; third, the prohibition of passing out of the sick room of any object or material until the same has been thoroughly disinfected; fourth, if, in the opinion of the director of public health the patient cannot be treated with reasonable safety to the public at home, the removal of the patient and contacts to a contagious disease hospital. (2) ABSOLUTE QUARANTINE includes: First, absolute prohibitions of entrance to or exit from the building or conveyance except by officers or attendants authorized by the director of public health, and the placing of guards, if necessary, to enforce this prohibition; second, the posting of a warning placard bearing the name of the disease quarantined in letters not less than one inch high in a conspicuous place or places on the outside of the building or conveyance; third, the prohibition of the passing out of any object or material from the quarantined house or conveyance; fourth, provision for conveying the necessities of life, under proper restrictions, to those in quarantine. (3) A CARRIER means a person who, without symptoms of a communicable disease, harbors and disseminates, or is likely to disseminate, the infectious agent of that disease. (4) CLEANSING means the removal by scrubbing and washing of organic matter on which and in which micro-organisms may find favorable conditions for prolonging their life and virulence and the removal by the same means of micro-organisms adherent to the surface. (5) COMMUNICABLE DISEASES means such diseases as are communicable through the conveyance of the infectious agent of the disease. (6) COMPLETE DISINFECTION means disinfection during illness, under the direction of the director of public health, of a patient’s body, of all excretions or discharges of a patient, and of all articles of clothing and utensils used by a patient and, after recovery, death, or removal, the disinfection of walls, woodwork, furniture, bedding, and other items. (7) CONTACT means a person who has been sufficiently near to an infected person or anything contaminated by an infectious agent to make possible the transmission of the infectious agent to the person. (8) CULTURES means growths of micro- organisms in or upon artificial media. The material for culture is obtained from body fluids, secretions, or excreta and is used for the purpose of determining the presence of the infectious agent. (9) DISINFECTION means the process of destroying the vitality of the disease-producing organisms by physical or chemical means. (10) DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH or DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH means the city health officer. (11) IMMUNES means persons having had the disease. Persons having a negative Schick test will be considered immune to diphtheria. Persons having had immune globulin for measles, toxoid for whooping cough, or vaccines for typhus and typhoid are not considered as being immune. (12) INCUBATION PERIOD of a communicable disease means the interval that usually elapses between the time of the implanting of the specific pathogenic agent into the body of a susceptible person and the manifestation of the first symptoms of the disease. (13) INFECTIOUS AGENT means a living micro-organism capable, under favorable conditions, of inciting a communicable disease. The words “germ,” “micro-organism,” “infectious agent” and “virus” are used interchangeably. (14) ISOLATION means the separation of persons suffering from a communicable disease, or carriers of the infectious organism, from other persons in such places and under such conditions as will prevent the direct conveyance of the infectious agent to susceptible persons. (15) MODIFIED ISOLATION includes: First, the confinement of the patient and attendants to one room or suite of rooms to which none but authorized officers or attendants shall have admission, but allowing the attendants to pass out of the room after disinfection of person and complete change of clothing; second, screening as provided in the definition of absolute isolation; third, the prohibition of passing any object or material out of the such room until it has been disinfected. (16) MODIFIED QUARANTINE includes: First, prohibition of entrance and exit, an absolute quarantine except against certain members of the family authorized by the director of public health to pass in and out under certain definite restrictions; second, the placing of a placard as provided in the definition of absolute quarantine; third, isolation of the patient and attendant; fourth, prohibition of the carrying out of any object or material unless the same has been thoroughly disinfected. (17) PARTIAL DISINFECTION means disinfection of discharges or excretions of patients and their clothing and the room or rooms occupied by the patients during illness. (18) PERIOD OF COMMUNICABILITY means the time during which a person affected with a communicable disease is capable of transmitting the infectious agent to others. (19) QUARANTINE means the confining of persons, animals, or materials within a designated area and excluding other persons, animals, or materials from such area. (20) RENOVATION means, in addition to cleansing, such treatment of the walls, floors, and ceilings of rooms or houses as may be necessary to place the premises in a satisfactory sanitary condition. (Ord. Nos. 4404; 27697)

Dallas City Code § 19-61 COMMUNICABLE DISEASES ENUMERATED.

SEC. 19-61. COMMUNICABLE DISEASES ENUMERATED. The following diseases are declared to be communicable through the conveyance of an infectious agent and must be reported: Anthrax; Asiatic cholera; botulism; bubonic plague; chancroid; chickenpox; conjunctivitis; acute infectious; dengue; diphtheria; dysentery, amebic; dysentery, bacillary, dysentery, unspecified; encephalitis; lethargica; food infections; German measles; glanders; gonorrhea; granuloma inguinale; hookworm; impetigo, contagiosa; influenza; leprosy; lymphogranuloma venereum; malaria; measles; meningitis, epidemic cerebrospina; mumps; ophthalmia, neonatorium; paratyphoid fever; pneumonia, bronchial; pneumonia, lobar; poliomyelitis, acute; psittacosis; rabies, human; rabies, animal; rat-bite fever; relapsing fever; rheumatic fever; Rocky Mountain spotted fever; salmonella infection; scabies; scarlet fever; septic sore throat; smallpox; syphilis; tetanus; trachoma; trichinosis; tuberculosis; tularemia; typhoid fever; typhoid carriers; typhus fever; undulant fever; Vincent’s angina; Weil’s disease; whooping cough; streptococcal sore throat; streptococcal tonsillitis; streptococcal nasopharnyitis; yellow fever, and other diseases which in the opinion of the director of public health may be communicable. (Ord. Nos. 4404; 5869)

Dallas City Code § 19-62 REPORTS OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES.

SEC. 19-62. REPORTS OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES. Every physician shall report in writing and, when practicable, by an acknowledged telephone communication to the department of public health, within 12 hours after having seen, professionally, each person having or whom he suspects of having any communicable disease, as defined in Section 19-60 and enumerated in Section 19-61. The attending physician is authorized and it is made his duty to place the patient under the restrictions of quarantine described in this section in the case of each respective disease. The following data are required: Date of onset; disease or suspected disease; patient’s name, age, sex and color; patient’s address; school attended or place of employment; occupation; number in household, adults and children; probable source of infection or origin of disease; if disease is smallpox, type, number of times successfully vaccinated (in typhoid fever also), and approximate dates; and, if typhoid fever, salmonellosis, tuberculosis, dysenytery, undulant fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, acute anterior polio-myelitis, cerebro-spinal meningitis, or septic sore throat, was patient, or is any member of the household, engaged in the production or handling of milk or any other food directly; name and address of person making report, and date of same. Such report shall be made within 12 hours after the case comes under observation. Every hotel proprietor or manager, keeper of a boardinghouse or head of a family, having knowledge of any person infected with or who is suspected of being infected with any of the diseases enumerated in Section 19-61 of this article, and every teacher or principal of any public, private or parochial school, having knowledge of a pupil, teacher or employee infected with or who is suspected of being infected with any of the diseases enumerated in such section, shall report same to the department of public health within 12 hours of the time of his first knowledge of the nature of such disease; provided, that should the case have been reported by the attending physician, no further report will be required. Persons with the premonitory symptoms of whooping cough, whether positively diagnosed as such or not, must be reported to the department of public health by the attending physician, by acknowledged telephone communication or in writing, within 24 hours of the time the patient is first seen. Conclusive proof that the case is suspected of being whooping cough by the attending physician will consist of his having advised the patient, its parent or guardian, as to the treatment of whooping cough; or of his having stated to the patient, its parent or guardian that he suspects whooping cough; or of his having administered pertussis vaccine, or any other treatment for whooping cough. Whenever a person suspected of having any contagious disease as defined in Revised Civil Statutes, Section 4477, or in Section 19-60 and enumerated in Section 19-61, is reported to the department of public health, the director of public health shall investigate same and if unable to make a diagnosis, shall placard the house with a placard bearing the words “Suspected Contagious Disease Within,” and shall institute the type of quarantine applicable to the disease suspected until such time as diagnosis is made, or until the case is declared no longer contagious. Whenever a physician is called to attend a patient who is suffering with diphtheria (membranous croup), he shall report the same to the department of public health by acknowledged telephone communication within one hour of the time the patient is first seen. If the attending physician suspects diphtheria, to the extent that he administers or advises the administration of a diphtheria anti-toxin, he shall report same to the department of public health by acknowledged telephone communication within one hour of the time the anti-toxin is administered or advised to be administered. (Ord. 4404)

Dallas City Code § 19-63 LABORATORY EXAMINATIONS AND REPORTS; AUTHORITY OF HEALTH OFFICER TO INSPECT LABORATORIES AND BLOOD BANKS AND BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICES.

SEC. 19-63. LABORATORY EXAMINATIONS AND REPORTS; AUTHORITY OF HEALTH OFFICER TO INSPECT LABORATORIES AND BLOOD BANKS AND BLOOD TRANSFUSION SERVICES. (a) The director of public health shall secure material for cultures, or specimens for bateriological or other laboratory examinations to assist in determining the diagnosis whenever in his judgment such procedure is necessary, and any person, when so requested by him or his authorized representative, shall permit such specimen to be taken. The director of public health, or his representative, is hereby given authority to inspect all bacteriological or clinical laboratories in the city in which material from persons affected with communicable diseases is examined. Whenever an examination for diagnosis by a laboratory or any person other than the physician in charge of the person from whom a laboratory specimen is taken discloses the existence of a case of communicable disease, the person in charge of the laboratory making the examination shall report all the facts, including the name and address of the patient, to the department of public health within 24 hours of the time diagnosis is made. Persons in charge of laboratories shall make such reports to the department of public health as the director of public health may require. (b) The director of public health, or his representatives, are hereby given authority to inspect all blood banks and blood transfusion services in the city (and blood banks and blood transfusion services in adjoining county towns whenever blood and blood derivatives are imported for use within the city limits) to determine compliance with current standards of blood banking and blood transfusion services established by the Division of Biologics Standards of the National Institutes of Health, the American Association of Blood Banks and the Dallas County Medical Society, and compliance with rules and regulations which might be adopted by the state department of health. The director of public health may require one or more experts in the field of blood banking to assist him, in an advisory capacity, in the inspection of any blood bank. The director of public health shall be informed of existing and proposed blood banking and blood transfusion services within the community and shall offer rules and regulations for the location and construction of the blood bank, including plumbing, heating, refrigeration, lighting, ventilation, electrical services and all sanitary conditions and general hygiene which shall insure the conduct and operation of the blood bank in a manner which will protect the public health. The organization of new blood banking and blood transfusion services and the modification of existing ones shall have, in the interest of public health and safety, the approval of the department of public health and of the Dallas County Medical Society (or the Dallas County Osteopathic Society if it pertains to an osteopathic institution). In order to secure such approval, blood banking and blood transfusion services shall have as responsible medical director a physician licensed by the state board of medical examiners. If any change occurs in the location, the licensed physician supervision or directorship of the blood bank, or upon the discovery of a reportable communicable disease or other condition injurious to the health, safety and welfare of the public, the director of such blood bank shall inform or report such occurrence to the director of public health within 48 hours. (Ord. Nos. 4404; 11452)

Dallas City Code § 19-64 MEASURES FOR CONTROL IN SCHOOLS.

SEC. 19-64. MEASURES FOR CONTROL IN SCHOOLS. The teacher, principal or president of any school, college, university of Sunday school having under his care any pupil who appears to be affected by any communicable disease shall promptly send such pupil home or separate him from other pupils until examined by a physician. The teacher, principal or president shall report the case in accordance with Section 19-62. In the event of the presence of any disease as specified in Section 19-61, the director of public health may cause to be examined any pupils, teachers or other persons employed in the schools, and may take any measures necessary to prevent the spread of disease. All school authorities and employees shall conform to all rules and regulations of the department of public health for the accomplishment of this end. Children having scarlet fever, diphtheria, acute poliomyelitis or smallpox, and their contacts, may return to school only after presentation to the principal of a certificate of freedom from disease signed by the director of public health or his authorized representative. Children having had other diseases may return only after presenting to the principal a certificate of freedom from disease signed by the attending physician or the director of public health, or after it is determined that the minimum period of isolation prescribed in Section 19-71 for the disease the child had is completed. In cases where the director of public health has had to exercise his discretion in quarantining, the authorization to return to school must be given by the director of public health, or his authorized representative. When in doubt concerning any case, the school principal may require that release certificates be signed personally by the director of public health or assistant director of public health. No superintendent, principal or teacher of any school, and no parent or guardian of any child or minor, shall permit any such child or minor having head lice or body lice to attend any public, private, parochial or Sunday school until such child or minor shall have obtained a certificate from the department of public health or from a private physician attesting to his freedom from lice. (Ord. Nos. 4404; 5869)

Dallas City Code § 19-65 INTERFERENCE WITH DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH.

SEC. 19-65. INTERFERENCE WITH DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH. If any principal, school teacher, superintendent, or other person in charge of any school or otherwise connected with any school willfully attempts to obstruct or interfere with the director of public health or any authorized person assisting in carrying out the provisions of this article, he shall be guilty of an offense. (Ord. Nos. 7802; 19963)

Dallas City Code § 19-66 MEDICAL CERTIFICATES REQUIRED OF DOMESTIC SERVANTS.

SEC. 19-66. MEDICAL CERTIFICATES REQUIRED OF DOMESTIC SERVANTS. Domestic servants and employees must secure the medical certificate provided for in Chapter 17 before entering upon their duties or before continuing their duties as such domestic servants or employees, and they shall pay the same fees as provided for in Chapter 17, “Domestic servant”. “Domestic servant” as used herein means any servant or employee in any home or private residence engaged in the usual and customary household duties, such as cooking, cleaning and caring for or tending children. (Ord. 7804)

Dallas City Code § 19-67 ISOLATION OF INFECTED PERSONS.

SEC. 19-67. ISOLATION OF INFECTED PERSONS. The director of public health shall, when he is informed of the existence of any malignant fever, smallpox or other pestilential, infectious or contagious disease in the city, cause the person affected to be taken to such place as he may designate for treatment. The place selected by the director of public health shall be and become a pest house. The director of public health shall make, and he is hereby clothed with the power to make, and enforce all proper regulations to keep the diseased person so isolated from healthy persons and to prevent the intrusion of parties not under his direction and control. (Ord. 7802)

Dallas City Code § 19-68 PHYSICIANS TO REPORT CERTAIN DISEASES.

SEC. 19-68. PHYSICIANS TO REPORT CERTAIN DISEASES. Every practicing physician in the city is hereby required to report immediately to the director of public health every case of diphtheria, smallpox, influenza, scarlet fever or other contagious and infectious diseases that he may be called upon to attend. Such report shall be in writing and signed by such physician, and it shall be made within six hours after the discovery of such disease and shall state the name, sex, place of residence and color of the person afflicted with such disease and the character of such disease. (Ord. 7802)

Dallas City Code § 19-69 WHEN SCHOOL CHILDREN TO BE EXAMINED; PROHIBITING SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.

SEC. 19-69. WHEN SCHOOL CHILDREN TO BE EXAMINED; PROHIBITING SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. Whenever it shall come to the knowledge of the director of public health that any infectious or contagious diseases exist or are likely to exist among the school children or pupils attending the public schools of the city or private schools, it shall be the duty of such officer to immediately examine and investigate the condition of any such school, or of any child or pupil attending same for the purpose of ascertaining if there exists any contagious or infectious disease, or is likely to exist any contagious infectious disease. If any pupil or child attending any school is found with any contagious disease, he shall, upon the order of the officer, discontinue his attendance at the school, and shall not return or attempt to return to same until the infectious or contagious disease is entirely cured. It shall be the duty of the teacher, principal or superintendent in charge of such pupil, child or school to disallow and prohibit the child or pupil from attending the school until such child or pupil is entirely cured and freed from any contagious or infectious disease. (Ord. 7802)

Dallas City Code § 19-70 HOTEL KEEPERS, ETC., TO REPORT INFECTIOUS DISEASES.

SEC. 19-70. HOTEL KEEPERS, ETC., TO REPORT INFECTIOUS DISEASES. When it shall come to the knowledge of the keeper or proprietor of any hotel, tavern, boardinghouse or inn that any inmate thereof shall be sick with smallpox, varioloid, yellow fever or any other infectious or contagious disease he shall forthwith report the same to the director of public health. (Ord. 7802)

Dallas City Code § 19-71 METHODS OF ISOLATION IN VARIOUS DISEASES.

SEC. 19-71. METHODS OF ISOLATION IN VARIOUS DISEASES. Every person suffering from any of the diseases mentioned in Section 19-61 shall isolate himself and every person in charge of such a person shall isolate the person of whom he is in charge in the following manner: When the disease is smallpox, the person affected shall be placed in absolute quarantine; when the disease is diphtheria, acute poliomyelitis or scarlet fever, the person affected shall be placed in modified quarantine; when the disease is epidemic meningitis, the person affected shall be placed in modified isolation; when the disease is malaria, yellow fever, dengue or encephalitis, the person affected shall be kept in a screened room free from mosquitoes until the infection organism is no longer found in the blood; when the disease is any of the others mentioned in Section 19-61, the person affected shall be so restricted in movement that the disease will not spread from him to others. No person other than the physician or person in charge of or in attendance upon the patient shall enter any premises, room or apartment quarantined for a communicable disease in violation of the terms of the quarantine. No person shall wilfully or negligently expose any other person to a communicable disease. (Ord. Nos. 4404; 5869)

Dallas City Code § 19-72 PLACARDING.

SEC. 19-72. PLACARDING. When there is a case of diphtheria, acute poliomyelitis, scarlet fever or smallpox, the director of public health, or his duly authorized representative, shall post a suitable placard or placards in a conspicuous place or places on the premises, apartment or room where the disease exists; provided, that if the case is under satisfactory hospital care, the placard may be omitted, except in cases where the placard is needed for control of contacts. The director of public health shall placard any premises wherein there is any person having a communicable disease, if that person does not isolate himself in a manner that will assure the prevention or spread of disease from himself to others. No person shall remove such placard except the director of public health or his authorized representative. (Ord. Nos. 4404; 5869)

Dallas City Code § 19-73 MINIMUM PERIODS OF ISOLATION.

SEC. 19-73. MINIMUM PERIODS OF ISOLATION. The minimum periods of isolation in various diseases shall be as follows: Scarlet fever, until 14 days from onset of the disease; diphtheria, until two negative nose and throat cultures taken not less than 24 hours apart are obtained; acute poliomyelitis, until 14 days from onset of the disease; epidemic meningitis, until seven days from onset of the disease, if the patient is free of acute symptoms; smallpox, until all primary crusts have been shed; measles and German measles, until seven days from onset of the rash; chickenpox, until seven days from onset of the disease, or until all primary crusts have disappeared; whooping cough, until four weeks from onset of catarrhal symptoms, or three weeks from onset of paroxysmal cough; mumps, until the swelling has disappeared; typhoid fever, until 10 days after temperature reaches and remains normal, and thereafter until two stools, taken not less than 48 hours apart, are negative for bacillus typhosus; all other diseases mentioned in Section 19-61, until, in the opinion of the director of public health, the patient can no longer transmit the infection. (Ord. Nos. 4404; 5514; 5869)

Dallas City Code § 19-74 CONTROL OF CONTACTS.

SEC. 19-74. CONTROL OF CONTACTS. The director of public health shall have the power to isolate or restrict the movement of any person who is known to have been exposed to any of the communicable diseases named in Section 19-80 for a time equal to the maximum incubation period of the disease and in the manner prescribed in Section 19-71. (Ord. 4404)

Dallas City Code § 19-75 INCUBATION PERIODS.

SEC. 19-75. INCUBATION PERIODS. For the purpose of this article, maximum incubation periods shall be considered to be as follows: Chickenpox, 18 days; measles, 18 days; German measles, 21 days; typhoid and paratyphoid fevers, 28 days; acute poliomyelitis, 14 days; Rocky Mountain spotted fever, 12 days; scarlet fever, seven days; whooping cough, 16 days; diphtheria, seven days; epidemic meningitis, 14 days; mumps, 26 days; smallpox, 21 days. (Ord. 4404)

Dallas City Code § 19-76 PROCEDURE WHEN DWELLING INFECTED.

SEC. 19-76. PROCEDURE WHEN DWELLING INFECTED. Whenever it shall be called to the attention of the director of public health that a dwelling is infected with a contagious disease or that it is dangerous due to inadequate ventilation and otherwise unsanitary and likely to cause sickness among the occupants of such building, the director of public health shall make an inspection of such building and if he finds that such building is in truth and fact infected with a contagious disease or that it is dangerous due to lack of ventilation, or is otherwise in an unsanitary condition and likely to cause disease, then the director of public health shall issue an order to the owner or agent, directing such owner or agent to disinfect or decontaminate the building and to otherwise remedy any defects he finds and upon the failure on the part of the owner or agent to conform with this order within 10 days, the director of public health shall direct that the building be vacated, if occupied, and that it remain vacant until the conditions set forth in the order are corrected in conformity with this article or any provisions of this code or other ordinances of the city, and if the owner or agent shall not have remedied the conditions complained of, the occupant or occupants shall be notified by the director of public health to vacate the premises within three days, unless the director of public health shall quarantine the entire premises and the occupants thereof, and it shall be unlawful and an offense of any occupant to fail to comply with the notice or order so issued. (Code 1941, Art. 49-11; Ord. Nos. 4404; 8049)

Dallas City Code § 19-77 REMOVAL OF CERTAIN CASES TO HOSPITAL.

SEC. 19-77. REMOVAL OF CERTAIN CASES TO HOSPITAL. When, in the opinion of the director of public health, proper isolation or quarantine of a person affected with, or a contact, or a carrier of any of the diseases mentioned in Section 19-61, is not or cannot be properly carried out on the premises occupied by such person, the director of public health may cause such person to be removed to a hospital or other proper place designated by the director of public health. (Code 1941, Art. 49-12; Ord. 4404)

Dallas City Code § 19-78 PRECAUTIONS BY ATTENDANTS.

SEC. 19-78. PRECAUTIONS BY ATTENDANTS. The physician or any other person permitted to visit a person affected with a communicable disease shall practice such measures of personal cleansing, disinfecting and all other precautions as are necessary to prevent the spread of the disease to others. (Code 1941, Art. 49-13; Ord. 4404)

Dallas City Code § 19-79 DISINFECTION.

SEC. 19-79. DISINFECTION. When any person is affected with a communicable disease, adequate disinfection shall begin at its onset and continue until its termination. It shall be the duty of the director of public health or his authorized representative to give specific instructions to the person attending a case or suspected case of communicable disease as to methods of disinfecting the discharges and articles used by or on the patient, and it shall be the duty of the person in charge to carry out such instructions. No article shall be removed from quarantined premises without a permit from the director of public health, or his authorized representative. When the case has terminated, the owner or occupant shall further disinfect, clean or renovate the premises as the director of public health shall require. Any articles which, in the opinion of the director of public health or his representative cannot be properly cleansed or disinfected shall be destroyed. The owner of any premises, apartment or rooms, which have been occupied by a person affected with a communicable disease, shall not rent the same to others or permit occupation by others until the premises have been cleansed to the satisfaction of the director of public health or his representative. (Code 1941, Art. 49-14; Ord. 4404)

Dallas City Code § 19-80 SPECIFIC PROVISIONS FOR CONTROLLING CERTAIN DISEASES.

SEC. 19-80. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS FOR CONTROLLING CERTAIN DISEASES. Directions shall be given by the director of public health, or his authorized representative, to the nurse, attendant, head of the family or owner of any premises, apartment or room, as the case may be, in the following diseases, and in each case the party or parties concerned shall comply with the instructions for control as outlined in this section: TYPHOID FEVER, PARATYPHOID FEVER, ASIATIC CHOLERA, DYSENTERY (AMOEBIC, BACILLARY) AND POLIOMYELITIS. Careful search for contacts by the director of public health and nurse; instructions of family and attendant in nature of isolation; screening of room free from flies, with wire screen doors adequate for exclusion of flies; instruction of family in handling of food for household so that no fly or article that has been in contact with patient may come in contact with food, no milk bottle or other vessel for carrying milk shall be taken away from house until case is terminated or upon written release from the director of public health. In typhoid and paratyphoid, the director of public health shall urgently recommend protective inoculation. Cases found in houses not screened shall be protected within six hours by mosquito-bar netting and the room, house or apartment in which patient is confined must be equipped with screen doors within 48 hours. DIPHTHERIA. Careful search for contacts by director of public health and nurse; instruction of family and attendant in nature of disease; all contacts must be isolated and the director of public health will urge use of diphtheria anti-toxin as a prophylactic. Exposed children, teachers, librarians, food handlers and others whose work brings them in contact with the public must change their address and give one negative culture from nose and throat before returning to school or work. If they do not change their address, they shall be excluded until one negative culture is taken after the case is terminated. The householder shall not allow milk bottles or other containers to be taken from house until termination of case and until same have been thoroughly disinfected by boiling or by immersion for one hour in five per cent carbolic or lysol solution, and upon written release by the director of public health. SCARLET FEVER, SEPTIC SORE THROAT, STREPTOCOCCAL SORE THROAT, STREPTOCOCCAL NASOPHARYNGITIS. Children in the family shall be allowed to return to school after period of incubation of diseases or upon the certificate of the attending physician, or in the event there is no attending physician, on the certificate of the director of public health or his authorized representative, certifying that such children have received adequate and sufficient prophylaxis to render them free from the presence of the infectious agent. DENGUE, MALARIAL FEVER AND YELLOW FEVER. Instructions by medical officer in nature of infection, means of transmission and methods to be used for preventing spread. Householder shall be instructed to rid house or premises of all mosquitoes immediately, and to use means for the prevention of development of mosquitoes on his premises, within 24 hours. SMALLPOX. The director of public health shall vaccinate all known contacts and other persons in residence, house, apartment, building, establishment, factory or other concern where patient was engaged at work. Contacts who have been successfully vaccinated will not be detained, but contacts who have refused vaccination shall be held in absolute isolation until 21 days following removal or recovery of patient and complete disinfection of the room. INFLUENZA. The health officer will take such steps as he may deem necessary in educating the public in habits of personal cleanliness, danger of association with contacts showing catarrhal symptoms or cough, and, during epidemics, upon the recommendation of the health officer, the city council may issue such instructions as may be deemed necessary for the control of this disease. WHOOPING COUGH. The head of the family shall keep the child away from other children until the case is terminated. TYPHUS FEVER. The head of the family must destroy all vermin on body of patients, transfer to vermin-free clothing, and place in a room free from vermin, and all attendants must wear verminproof clothes. The head of the family must take steps to eradicate rats and fleas from premises. All persons exposed to typhus shall be held in quarantine in a vermin-free room until 12 days after last exposure. At termination of case, head of household shall destroy all lice, together with their eggs, on patient’s body, if not already done, and destroy all vermin and eggs in clothing returned to patient, and free isolation room of all vermin. Upon appearance of an epidemic, the director of public health shall issue general measures for delousing of persons’ clothing and premises as he may deem necessary and for the eradication of rats and fleas. CHICKENPOX. Cases diagnosed as chickenpox in persons unvaccinated against smallpox must be seen by the director of public health and/or the city health officer. MUMPS. Parent, guardian or head of household must exclude children from school or other public gatherings for 21 days after their last exposure to a recognized case. (Code 1941, Art. 49-15; Ord. Nos. 4404; 5869)

Dallas City Code § 19-81 SPECIAL RULES FOR TUBERCULOSIS.

SEC. 19-81. SPECIAL RULES FOR TUBERCULOSIS. Whenever there is a case of tuberculosis, it shall be the duty of the director of public health or his representative to take such proper precautions as he may deem necessary, and to give proper instructions to the patient and all other persons occupying the same premises to prevent the spread of the disease. Every person affected with tuberculosis shall dispose of his sputum, saliva or other discharges in a manner not dangerous to public health. Whenever a person so affected is, or is likely to be, a menace to the health of others, the director of public health shall have the power to cause the removal of such person to an isolation hospital or other proper place until the danger has been removed. Upon recovery of a person having tuberculosis, it shall be the duty of his physician to notify the director of public health. (Code 1941, Art. 49-16; Ord. 4404)

Dallas City Code § 19-82 SERUM TO BE FURNISHED INDIGENT PERSONS.

SEC. 19-82. SERUM TO BE FURNISHED INDIGENT PERSONS. It shall be the duty of the department of public health to furnish free to all indigent persons vaccine virus for smallpox protection and also the serum or anti-toxin of any other disease. (Code 1941, Art. 49-17; Ord. 4404)

Dallas City Code § 19-82.1 IMMUNIZATION, REGISTRATION, AND RECORD FEE SCHEDULE.

SEC. 19-82.1. IMMUNIZATION, REGISTRATION, AND RECORD FEE SCHEDULE. The director of public health of the city is authorized to charge the following fees for the following services performed by the health department: (1) for each visit by an individual to a child health clinic, an amount in accordance with the following schedule based on the Poverty Income Guidelines established by the United States Department of Health: Poverty Level | Fee Per Treatment Less than 120 percent | $3 120 to less than 140 percent | $6 140 to less than 160 percent | $8 160 to less than 180 percent | $10 180 to less than 200 percent | $12 200 percent and over | $14 (2) $3 for each visit to an immunization clinic by an individual who receives immunization; (3) $3 for each individual who receives immunization during each visit to a day care center; (4) $1 for each duplicate copy of an immunization record; and (5) $2 for each registration by an individual for each of the following health education classes or screenings: (A) $4 for a four-week class; (B) $5 for a five-week or six-week class; and (C) $2 for a health screening. (Ord. Nos. 11913; 17134; 19300; 20076)

Dallas City Code § 19-83 REGULATION OF FUNERALS FOR PERSONS DYING FROM CERTAIN DISEASES.

SEC. 19-83. REGULATION OF FUNERALS FOR PERSONS DYING FROM CERTAIN DISEASES. When a person has died of epidemic cerebro- spinal meningitis, polio-myelitis, diphtheria or smallpox, no person except the undertaker and his assistants, the clergyman and others permitted by the director of public health shall enter the house until after the funeral and until after the warning placard has been removed. If the funeral is held elsewhere than at the last residence of the deceased, the funeral may be public; provided, that only those members of the immediate family may attend, who, in the opinion of the director of public health, are free from infection, and to whom he has given permission to do so. (Ord. 5869)

Source: City of Dallas, Dallas City Code and City Charter (American Legal Publishing, codelibrary.amlegal.com)URL: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/dallas/latest/dallas_tx/0-0-0-143950Fetched: 10/26/2026