Algoma Public Health
Infectious Disease
The purpose of the infectious disease program is to maintain a healthy community through preventing and controlling communicable diseases. This is achieved by surveillance and investigation of infectious diseases and public education.
Diseases of Public Health Significance (DOPHS) Reporting
The Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) outlines the communicable diseases that are designated reportable in the province of Ontario.
Under the authority of the HPPA, Ontario Regulations 135/18, these diseases must be reported to the local Public Health by physicians, laboratories, and administrators of hospitals, schools, and institutions. The principal of a school who is of the opinion that a pupil in the school has or may have a communicable disease shall, as soon as possible after forming the opinion, report thereon to the medical officer of health of the health unit in which the school is located. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.7, s. 28.
Absenteeism and Illness Reporting
For principal use only. Please submit the form below when your school or childcare centre is experiencing the following:
- When there is an increase in absenteeism above what the school would typically experience, and the absences are not perceived to be linked to other factors such as holidays; OR
- Increased rates of absenteeism due to gastrointestinal illness (e.g., vomit and/or diarrhea) that is above your baseline of what would normally be expected in the school. This includes increased cases of illness either school-wide or within a specific class or cohort of students; OR
- When there is one or more case(s) of a reportable disease in the school setting as per the Guidelines for Communicable Disease and Other Childhood Health Issues for Schools and Child Care Centres.