534 Counties in which the annual rate of syphilis is at or above the level at which special precautions should be taken

Counties in Which the Annual Rate of Syphilis is at or Above the Level at Which Special Precautions Should be Taken

[32 Pa.B. 1775]

   The Department of Health is providing notice in accordance with 28 Pa. Code § 27.89 (relating to examinations for syphilis) that the annual rate of syphilis in the listed counties based on data collected in 2001 is at or above the level at which special precautions are to be taken:

Allegheny County
Bucks County
Delaware County
Indiana County
Lehigh County
Mercer County
Philadelphia County
Westmoreland County
York County

   In these counties, as required by 28 Pa. Code § 27.89, a test for syphilis is to be offered to a woman in the third trimester of pregnancy, a woman who has delivered a newborn child and a woman who has delivered a stillborn child. If she does not object, the test shall be performed in accordance with 28 Pa. Code § 27.89. If a pregnant woman objects, the regulation requires the person attending the woman to explain to her the need for the test. With respect to women who have given birth, information relating to the test or the objection to the test is to be recorded in both the woman's medical record, and in the record of the newborn, as the section states.

   Persons with a disability who require an alternative format of this notice (for example, large print, audiotape or Braille) or have questions regarding this notice, should contact Stephen J. Kowalewski, Senior Public Health Advisor, Division of STD/TB, Department of Health, P. O. Box 90, Harrisburg, PA 17108-0090, [phone], V/TT: [phone] for speech and/or hearing impaired persons or the Pennsylvania AT&T Relay Service at [phone] [TT].

ROBERT S. ZIMMERMAN, Jr.,   
Secretary

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 02-534. Filed for public inspection April 5, 2002, 9:00 a.m.]