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TEST

The DETECT (Decrease Epidemiological Threats with Environmental Controls and Testing), TEST (Take Epidemiological Specimens Today), and REPORT (Rules for Every Provider and Organization to Report on Time) Notifiable Diseases awareness campaign emphasizes different disease control actions needed to reduce the impact of Alabama's reportable diseases and create a robust notifiable disease system. TEST Notifiable Disease involves taking a timely specimen, ordering the appropriate lab test, and utilizing the proper lab test method to determine if a patient meets the notifiable disease case definition.

Bureau of Clinical Laboratories (BCL)

Learn how to pack and ship specimens to be tested at the BCL.
Analytes offered by BCL

Alabama Notifiable Diseases and CDC Recommended Test Methods and Specimen Type

Disease	Organism	CDC Recommended Test Methods*	CDC Recommended Specimen Type*
Anthrax	Bacillus anthracis	Culture¹, IHC, or PCR¹	Blood or sputum
Arboviral	Eastern Equine Encephalitis, St Louis and West Nile Virus	Culture, ELISA¹, IFA, or PCR	Blood, serum, or CSF
Babesiosis	Babesia spp.	Culture, ELISA, IFA, Microscopy¹, or PCR	Blood
Botulism	Clostridium botulinum	Culture and identification¹, or Mouse bioassay¹	Stool
Brucellosis	Brucella spp.	Culture and identification¹, ELISA¹, IFA, or PCR	Blood
Campylobacteriosis	Campylobacter spp.	Culture², ELISA, IFA, or PCR	Stool
Chancroid	Haemophilus ducreyi	Culture	Exudates
Chlamydia	Chlamydia trachomatis	NAAT¹, Culture, or Positive by any method	Endocervical, oropharyngeal, rectal, urethral, urine, or vaginal
Cholera	Vibrio cholerae	Culture², ELISA, or IFA	Stool
Cryptosporidiosis	Cryptosporidium	Microscopy¹, DFA, or PCR	Stool
Dengue	Dengue virus	Culture, ELISA, IHC, or PCR	Blood or serum
Diphtheria	Corynebacterium diphtheriae	Culture and identification¹	Throat or nasopharynx swab or cutaneous lesion
E. coli, shiga-toxin producing (STEC), including O157:H7	Shiga-toxin producing bacteria	Culture and identification¹	Stool, blood, or urine
Ehrlichiosis/ Anaplasmosis	Ehrlichia chaffeensis	Culture, IFA, IHC, Microscopy or PCR	Blood
Encephalitis, viral		Culture, ELISA, IFA, or PCR	Blood, serum, and CSF
Giardiasis	Giardia lamblia	DFA, EIA, Microscopy¹, or PCR	Stool
Gonorrhea	Neisseria gonorrhoeae	NAAT¹, Culture, DFA,or Gram Stain Positive by any method	Endocervical, oropharyngeal, rectal, urethral, urine, or vaginal
Hansen's Disease (Leprosy)	Mycobacterium leprae	Microscopy	Skin smears
Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), post-diarrheal	N/A	Clinical Diagnosis	N/A
Hepatitis A	Hepatitis A	Serology IgM	Blood or Serum
Hepatitis B (Acute and Perinatal)	Hepatitis B	Serology¹	Serum
Hepatitis C	Hepatitis C	HCV antibody, nucleic acid test (NAT) for HCV RNA including qualitative, quantitative or genotype testing	Serum
Hepatitis, other	Hepatitis virus	Serology or PCR	Serum
Haemophilus influenzae, invasive³	Haemophilus influenzae	Culture and identification¹	Blood, CSF, or from any sterile site listed below
HIV/AIDS	Human immunodeficiency virus	Positive results confirmed by supplemental HIV antibody test, including type differentiating (e.g.Multispot¹, Western blot, IFA), detectable quantities from all HIV nucleic acid detection test results, positive HIV p24 antigen test (including neutralization assay), positive HIV isolation (viral culture). All CD4 counts and viral load test results regardless of quantity or detection levels	Blood
Influenza-associated pediatric death	Influenza virus	Culture, HAI, IFA, IHC, or PCR¹	Nasopharyngeal aspirate or wash, or throat swab
Lead	Lead	GFAS¹	Blood
Legionellosis	Legionella pneumophila	Culture¹, DFA, ELISA, IFA, IHC, or PCR	Blood, sputum, or bronchoalveolar lavage
Leptospirosis	Leptospira	Culture, DFA, or Serology	Blood, culture, or urine
Listeriosis	Listeria monocytogenes	Culture and identification¹	Blood, CSF, or stool
Lyme disease	Borrelia burgdorferi	Culture, EIA, IFA, or Serology	Blood
Malaria	Plasmodium spp.	Microscopy¹or PCR¹	Blood
Measles	Rubeola	Culture, Serology IgM, or PCR	Blood or serum, Urine, Nasophayngeal, or Throat Swab
Meningococcal disease (invasive)³	Neisseria meningitidis	Culture²	Blood, CSF, or from any sterile site listed below
Mumps	Mumps virus	Culture, Serology IgM, or PCR	Blood, Buccal Swab, Nasopharyngeal, or throat swab
Novel influenza A virus	Influenza A virus	CDC only	Nasopharyngeal aspirate or wash, or throat swab
Pertussis	Bordetella pertussis	Culture¹ or PCR¹	Nasopharyngeal aspirate or wash, or throat swab
Plague	Yersinia pestis	Culture¹ or Serology¹	Aspirate from bubo, sputum or CSF
Poliomyelitis, paralytic	Polio virus	Clinical diagnosis (Poliomyelitis), Culture (Poliovirus infection)	Stool, CSF, or oropharyngeal secretions
Poliovirus infection, nonparalytic	Polio virus	Culture	Stool, CSF, or oropharyngeal secretions
Psittacosis	Chlamydia psittaci	Culture, CF, ELISA, IFA, MIF, or PCR	Sputum, blood, or postmortem tissue
Q Fever	Coxiella burnetii	ELISA, IFA, IHC, LA, or PCR¹	Blood or serum
Rabies, human and animal	Lyssavirus	Human² , Animal- DFA¹ or Culture	Human - Skin section, serum, CSF, or saliva. Animal - Whole brain
Rubella	Rubella virus	Culture, PCR, or Serology IgM	Blood or serum
Salmonellosis	Salmonella app.	Culture¹	Stool, blood, or urine
SARS-associated Coronavirus	SARS-CoV	Culture, ELISA, or PCR	Nasopharyngeal aspirate or stool
Shigellosis	Shigella spp.	Culture¹	Stool, blood, or urine
Spotted Fever Rickettsioses	Rickettsia rickettsii and Rickettsia parkeri	Culture, IFA, IHC, or PCR	Serum
Staph aureus, Vancomycin-intermediate (VISA)	Staphylococcus aureus	Culture	Blood, throat, CSF, or wound
Staph aureus, Vancomycin-resistance (VRSA)	Staphylococcus aureus	Culture	Blood, throat, CSF, or wound
Strep pneumoniae, invasive³	Streptococcus pneumoniae	Culture²	Blood, CSF, or from any sterile site listed below
Smallpox	Variola virus	CDC Only	Vesicular or pustular fluid
Syphilis	Treponema pallidum	EIA¹, RPR, VDRL¹, TPPA¹, or Darkfield Microscopy Positive by any method	Blood, serum, CSF, or lesion
Tetanus	Clostridium tetani	Clinical diagnosis	N/A
Trichinellosis	Trichinella	Serology	Blood and muscle biopsy
Tuberculosis	Mycobacterium tuberculosis	Culture¹, Microscopy¹, or PCR	Respiratory, tissue, body fluid, or CSF
Tularemia	Francisella tularensis	Culture¹ or Serology	Blood or serum
Typhoid fever	Salmonella typhi	Culture¹ and PCR	Stool, blood, or urine
Varicella	Varicella virus	Culture, DFA, Serology, or PCR¹	Lesion
Vibriosis	Non-cholera Vibrio spp.	Culture ²	Stool, wound or blood
Viral hemorrhagic fever	Crimean-Congo, Ebola, Lassa, Lujo, Marburg, and new world arenaviruses	Culture, ELISA, IHC, or PCR	Blood
Yellow fever	Yellow fever virus	ELISA, Hybridization probes, PCR, or Serology	Blood

Key

* To confirm cases based on CDC case definitions

¹ Test offered by Bureau of Clinical Laboratories (BCL)

² Pure culture confirmation only by BCL

³ Normally sterile body site (e.g., blood, cerebrospinal fluid, joint, pleural, or pericaridal fluid)

CF - complement fixation

Culture - Isolation

CIA - Chemiluminescent immunoassay

CSF - Cerebrospinal fluid

DFA - Direct florescence assay

ELISA/EIA - Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay/enzyme immunoassay

EM - Electron microscopy

GFAS - Graphite furnace absorption

HAI - Hemagglutination inhibition

IFA - Immunofluorescence assay

IHC - Immunohistochemistry

LA - Latex agglutination

MAT - Microagglutination test

MIF - Microimmunofluorescence

Microscopy

PCR - Polymerase chain reaction (nucleic acid amplification)

RIBA - Recombinant immunoblot assay

RDT- Rapid diagnostic test, (i.e., antigen test or agglutination test)

Western blot - Immunoblot

Page last updated: March 22, 2024