7.4.0.4: Maintenance of Records on Incidents of Diarrhea

The facility should maintain a record of children and caregivers/teachers who have diarrhea while at home or at the facility. This record should include:

1. The child or caregiver’s/teacher’s name;
2. Dates the child or caregiver/teacher is ill;
3. Reason for diarrhea, if known;
4. Whether the child or caregiver/teacher was in attendance at the child care facility during the diarrhea episode;
5. Any leakage of feces from the diaper while the child was in attendance at the child care facility.

Infection with certain enteric diseases or pathogens (cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, hepatitis A virus [HAV], salmonellosis, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli [STEC], shigellosis) is designated as notifiable at the national level. The facility should notify the local health department authorities whenever there have been two or more children with diarrhea in a given classroom or three or more unrelated children (not siblings) with diarrhea within the facility within a two-week period or occurrence of an enteric agent which is notifiable at the national level.

RATIONALE

Disease surveillance and reporting to the local health department authorities are critical in preventing and controlling diseases in the child care setting. A major purpose of surveillance is to allow early detection of disease and prompt implementation of control measures. Ascertaining whether a child who attends a facility is ill is important when evaluating childhood illnesses; ascertaining whether an adult who works in a facility or is a parent/guardian of a child attending a facility is ill is important when considering a diagnosis of hepatitis A and other diseases transmitted by the fecal-oral route. Cases of these infections in household contacts may require questioning about illness in the child attending child care, testing the child for infection, and possible use of hepatitis A vaccine or immune globulin in contacts. Information concerning infectious disease in a child care attendee, staff member, or household contact should be communicated to public health authorities, to the child care director, to all staff, and to all parents/guardians with children in the facility.

TYPE OF FACILITY

Center, Early Head Start, Head Start, Large Family Child Care Home, Small Family Child Care Home

RELATED STANDARDS

3.6.4.3 Notification of the Facility About Infectious Disease or Other Problems by Parents/Guardians
3.6.4.4 List of Excludable and Reportable Conditions for Parents/Guardians