S.I. No. 53/2020 - Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 28th February, 2020.

The Minister for Health, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 5 , 29 and 31 of the Health Act 1947 (No. 28 of 1947) hereby makes the following regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2020.

2. In these Regulations, “Regulations of 2007” means the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2007 ( S.I. No. 559 of 2007 ).

3. The Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 ( S.I. No. 390 of 1981 ) are amended -

(a) in Regulation 8 (amended by Regulation 4(3) of the Regulations of 2007) by the insertion before “diphtheria” of “Covid-19,”,

(b) in Regulation 14(1)(b) (amended by Regulation 4(6) of the Regulations of 2007) by the insertion before “diphtheria” of “Covid-19,”,

(c) in Regulation 15(2)(a) (amended by Regulation 4(7) of the Regulations of 2007) by the insertion before “diphtheria” of “Covid-19,”, and

(d) by the substitution of the following Schedule for the Schedule (amended by Regulation 2(b) of the Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2018 ( S.I. No. 567 of 2018 )) to those Regulations:

“SCHEDULE

Diseases specified to be infectious diseases and their respective causative pathogens

Disease	Causative Pathogen
Acute anterior poliomyelitis	Polio virus
Ano-genital warts	Human papilloma virus
Anthrax	Bacillus anthracis
Bacillus cereus food-borne infection/intoxication	Bacillus cereus
Bacterial meningitis (not otherwise specified)
Botulism	Clostridium botulinum
Brucellosis	Brucella species
Campylobacter infection	Campylobacter species
Carbapenemase producing enterobacteriaceae, infection or colonisation	Enterobacteriaceae
Chancroid	Haemophilus ducreyi
Chickenpox - hospitalised cases	Varicella-zoster virus
Chikungunya disease	Chikungunya virus
Chlamydia trachomatis infection (genital)	Chlamydia trachomatis
Cholera	Vibrio cholerae
Clostridium difficile infection	Clostridium difficile
Clostridium perfringens (type A) food-borne disease	Clostridium perfringens
Covid-19	SARS-CoV-2
Creutzfeldt Jakob disease
variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease
Cryptosporidiosis	Cryptosporidium parvum, hominis
Cytomegalovirus infection (congenital)	Cytomegalovirus
Dengue Fever	Dengue Virus
Diphtheria	Corynebacterium diphtheriae or ulcerans (toxin producing)
Echinococcosis	Echinococcus species
Enterococcal bacteraemia	Enterococcus species (blood)
Escherichia coli infection (invasive)	Escherichia coli (blood, CSF)
Giardiasis	Giardia lamblia
Gonorrhoea	Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Granuloma inguinale	Klebsiella granulomatis
Haemophilus influenzae disease (invasive)	Haemophilus influenzae (blood, CSF or other normally sterile site)
Hepatitis A (acute) infection	Hepatitis A virus
Hepatitis B (acute and chronic) infection	Hepatitis B virus
Hepatitis C infection	Hepatitis C virus
Hepatitis E Infection	Hepatitis E virus
Herpes simplex (genital)	Herpes simplex virus
Herpes simplex (neonatal)	Herpes simplex virus
Human immunodeficiency virus infection	Human immunodeficiency virus
Influenza	Influenza A and B virus
Klebsiella pneumoniae infection (invasive)	Klebsiella pneumoniae (blood or CSF)
Legionellosis	Legionella species
Leprosy	Mycobacterium leprae
Leptospirosis	Leptospira species
Listeriosis	Listeria monocytogenes
Lyme disease (neuroborreliosis)	Borrelia burgdorferi
Lymphogranuloma venereum	Chlamydia trachomatis
Malaria	Plasmodium falciparum, vivax, knowlesi, ovale, malariae
mcr-positive Enterobacteriaceae infection or colonisation	Enterobacteriaceae
Measles	Measles virus
Meningococcal disease	Neisseria meningitidis
Mumps	Mumps virus
Non-specific urethritis
Novel or Rare Antimicrobial-resistant Organism (NRAO)
Noroviral infection	Norovirus
Paratyphoid	Salmonella Paratyphi
Pertussis	Bordetella pertussis
Plague	Yersinia pestis
Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection (invasive)	Pseudomonas aeruginosa (blood or CSF)
Q Fever	Coxiella burnetii
Rabies	Rabies virus
Respiratory syncytial virus infection	Respiratory syncytial virus
Rotavirus infection	Rotavirus
Rubella	Rubella virus
Salmonellosis	Salmonella spp other than S. Typhi and S. Paratyphi
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)	SARS-associated coronavirus
Shigellosis	Shigella species
Smallpox	Variola virus
Staphylococcal food poisoning	Enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus
Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia	Staphylococcus aureus (blood)
Streptococcus group A infection (invasive)	Streptococcus pyogenes (blood, CSF or other normally sterile site)
Streptococcus group B infection (invasive)	Streptoccus agalactiae (blood, CSF, or other normally sterile site)
Streptococcus pneumoniae infection (invasive)	Streptococcus pneumoniae (blood, CSF or other normally sterile site)
Syphilis	Treponema pallidum
Tetanus	Clostridium tetani
Toxoplasmosis	Toxoplasma gondii
Trichinosis	Trichinella species
Trichomoniasis	Trichomonas vaginalis
Tuberculosis	Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex
Tularemia	Francisella tularensis
Typhoid	Salmonella Typhi
Typhus	Rickettsia prowazekii
Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli infection	Verotoxin producing Escherichia coli
Viral encephalitis
Viral haemorrhagic fevers
Viral meningitis
West Nile fever	West Nile virus
Yellow fever	Yellow fever virus
Yersiniosis	Yersinia enterocolitica, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis
Zika virus infection	Zika virus”.

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GIVEN under the Official Seal of the

Minister for Health,

20 February, 2020.

SIMON HARRIS,

Minister for Health.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulation and does not purport to be a legal interpretation)

These Regulations (Regulation 3(d)) amend the Schedule to the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 ( S.I. No. 390 of 1981 ) to include Covid-19 amongst the list of diseases designated as an ‘infectious disease’ for the purposes of the Health Act 1947 , in accordance with Regulation 6 of those Regulations – all diseases that are so designated are required to be notified (by a medical practitioner who becomes aware or suspects an instance of such disease) to a medical officer of health and are subsequently relayed to the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre in accordance with Regulation 14 of the 1981 Regulations (as amended).

These Regulations (Regulation 3(a)) also amend Regulation 8 of the Infectious Diseases Regulations 1981 to provide for the inclusion of Covid-19 amongst the list of infectious diseases that a person (who is a probable source of infection with the disease) may (as a necessary safeguard against the spread of the disease) be detained and isolated for, in accordance with the Health Act 1947 .

These Regulations (Regulations 3(b) and (c) also provide for the preliminary notification (i.e. immediate notification by telephone) of Covid-19.