Summary chart
Disease agent | Incubation period | Transmission | Contagious period | Report to public health* | Exclusion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rabies: Eight days to six years or more (usually 3-8 weeks) | Saliva of an infected animal, most commonly through a bite | As long as symptoms are present | Yes (24 hours for animal bites) | None for animal bites | |
1-10 days (usually 2-5 days) | Fecal→oral spread, contaminated food/water, animals | While diarrhea is present; can spread for a few days after symptoms are gone | Yes (Four days) | Yes until 24 hours after diarrhea resolves, without the use of anti-diarrheal medications | |
10-21 days (usually 14-16 days) | Droplet/infectious discharges, skin contact | One to two days before the rash appears until all the blisters have crusted over (usually days after onset) | Yes (Four days) | Yes until all blisters have formed scabs and crusted over. If immunized with mild symptoms, exclude until 24 hours since last bump/blister | |
1-3 weeks | Sexual transmission | Until treated | Yes (Four days) | None | |
Variable | Fecal→oral spread, contaminated surfaces | As long as bacteria are present | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | Yes until 48 hours after diarrhea resolves, without the use of antidiarrheal medications | |
Variable. Several weeks to several months | Body secretions (primarily saliva and urine) | As long as the virus is present in body secretions (months or years) | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | None | |
1-14 days (usually 48 hours) | Droplet/infectious discharges | One day before symptom onset and while symptoms are present | None | None It is recommended that symptomatic children be excluded from school/child care until they are fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication. | |
14 days, with a median onset time of 4-5 days. The incubation period may be shorter or longer, depending on the variant that is circulating | Droplet/infectious discharges | Two days before symptom onset and for 10 days after symptoms start
| Yes (Four days) | Yes It is recommended that symptomatic children be excluded from school/child care until they are fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication and other symptoms are improving
| |
2-7 days | Droplet/infectious discharges | One week before symptom onset to one to three weeks after symptoms | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | None It is recommended that symptomatic children be excluded from school/child care until they are fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication. | |
2-10 days (usually seven days) | Fecal→oral spread, contaminated food/water, animals | While diarrhea is present; can spread for several weeks after symptoms are gone | Yes (Four days) | Yes until 24 hours after diarrhea resolves; without the use of anti-diarrheal medications; do not participate in gardening/agriculture | |
Disease agent | Incubation period | Transmission | Contagious period | Report to public health* | Exclusion |
E. coli O157:H7 and other Shiga toxin- producing E. coli (STEC) | 1-10 days (usually 3-4 days) | Fecal→oral spread, contaminated food/water, animals | While diarrhea is present; can spread for one to four weeks after symptoms are gone | Yes (Four days) | Yes until cleared by public health (negative stool testing may be required prior to return) |
4-21 days | Droplet/infectious discharges | One week before rash appears | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | None | |
2-12 days | Sexual transmission | Potentially lifelong | None | None | |
Variable | Sexual transmission | Potentially lifelong | None | None | |
1-3 weeks (usually 7-10 days) | Fecal→oral spread, contaminated food/water | While diarrhea is present; can spread for months after symptoms are gone | Yes (Four days) | Yes until 24 hours after diarrhea resolves, without the use of anti-diarrheal medications | |
1-14 days | Sexual transmission | Until treated | Yes (Four days) | None | |
3-6 days | Droplet/infectious discharges, fecal→oral spread | One to three weeks for respiratory droplets; virus can be present in stool for several months | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | None unless the child has mouth sores and is drooling uncontrollably | |
Nits hatch in 10-14 days, adults live 3-4 weeks | Direct contact with a person or object with infestation | As long as live lice are present | None | From end of school day until after first treatment | |
2-6 weeks (usually four weeks) | Fecal→oral spread, contaminated food/water | Most contagious two weeks before symptom onset to one week after jaundice onset | Yes (One working day) | Yes until cleared by public health | |
45-160 days (usually 90 days) | Infective blood or body fluids, sexual transmission | Several weeks before symptom onset and throughout the illness, some people carry virus for life | Yes (Four days) | None | |
Disease agent | Incubation period | Transmission | Contagious period | Report to public health* | Exclusion |
14-180 days (usually 45 days) | Infective blood | One or more weeks before symptom onset and as long as the virus is present in the blood, which can be lifelong | Yes (Four days) | None | |
2-14 days | Direct contact | As long as the sores are present | None | None unless the child has open sores and is drooling uncontrollably | |
Variable | Infective blood and some body fluids | Lifelong | Yes (Four days) | None | |
7-10 days for streptococcal; Variable for staphylococcal | Direct contact | Until treatment with antibiotics for at least 24 hours, or lesions are no longer present | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | Yes until 24 hours after antibiotic treatment | |
1-4 days (usually two days) | Droplet/infectious discharges | From slightly before symptom onset to about day five to seven of illness | Yes (hospitalized cases or deaths in children under 18 years — Seven days) | Yes It is recommended that symptomatic children be excluded from school/child care until they are fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication and other symptoms are improving
| |
8-14 days | Airborne/droplet/ infectious discharges | Four days before rash onset to four days after | Yes (Immediately) | Yes until four days after rash onset | |
Meningococcal: 1-10 days (usually less than four days) Haemophilus influenzae (H. flu): unknown (probably a few days) Pneumococcal: as short as 1-3 days | Droplet/infectious discharges | Until completing 24 hours of antibiotic treatment | Yes meningococcal: immediately H. flu: One working day pneumococcal: Four days
| Yes until 24 hours after treatment | |
Depends on agents | Droplet/infectious discharges, fecal→oral spread | Depends on agent | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | None | |
2-7 weeks to six months | Direct/indirect contact | As long as lesions are present | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | None | |
4-6 weeks | Saliva | Weeks to months after the initial infection | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | None | |
Disease agent | Incubation period | Transmission | Contagious period | Report to public health* | Exclusion |
3-17 days | Direct skin to skin contact | Until rash has fully healed | Yes | Yes | |
Variable | Skin contact or contaminated items | As long as bacteria are present | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | None unless required by health care provider; athlete exclusions may be necessary | |
12-25 days (usually 16-18 days) | Droplet/infectious discharges, saliva | Two days before swelling onset to five days after | Yes (Four days) | Yes until five days after swelling onset | |
Varies by virus (usually1-3 days) | Fecal→oral spread, contaminated food/water | While diarrhea or vomiting is present and several days after symptoms are gone | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | Yes until 48 hours after diarrhea and/or vomiting resolves, without the use of anti-diarrheal or anti-emtic medications | |
Various bacteria and viruses, allergies, chemical irritation | Variable for all causes (Bacterial, viral, allergies, and chemicals) | Bacterial and viral: infectious discharges Allergies and chemicals: not contagious | Bacterial: as long as symptoms are present or until treatment has been started Viral: as long as symptoms are present | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | No unless the child meets other exclusion criteria, such as fever or behavioral change |
1-2 months or longer | Feca→oral, indirect contact | As long as eggs are present | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | None unless proper control measures cannot be followed | |
Average life cycle is 15 days; infestation begins with transfer of louse | Sexual transmission | As long as lice are present | None | None | |
4-14 days | Skin contact/direct contact | As long as rash is present on skin | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | Yes from end of school day until after first treatment | |
5-15 days (usually nine to 10 days) | Droplet/infectious discharges | As long as virus is present in nose/threat secretions | None | None other exclusion criteria apply | |
1-3 days | Fecal→oral spread | As long as virus is in feces; from before symptom onset to 21 days after | None | Yes until 48 hours after diarrhea has resolved | |
Disease agent | Incubation period | Transmission | Contagious period | Report to public health* | Exclusion |
2-8 days (usually 4-6 days) | Droplet/infectious discharges | Three to eight days after symptom onset; for infants and people with weakened immune systems can be over four weeks | Hospitalized cases in Denver metro area: yes Outbreaks: immediately | None It is recommended that symptomatic children be excluded from school/child care until they are fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication and other symptoms are improving | |
14-21 days (usually 16-18 days) | Droplet/infectious discharges | Seven days before rash onset to five to seven days after | Yes (One working day) | Yes until seven days after rash onset | |
| 6-72 hours, but up to seven days (usually 12-36 hours) | Fecal→oral spread, contaminated food/water, animals
| While diarrhea is present; can spread for a variable (weeks - months) period of time after symptoms are gone | Yes (Four days) | Yes until 24 hours after diarrhea has resolved without the use of anti-diarrheal medications (negative stool testing may be required prior to return)
|
2-6 weeks if never infected, 1-4 days if infected before | Skin contact/direct contact | Until the mites and eggs are destroyed with medical treatment | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | Yes from end of school day until after first treatment | |
1-7 days (usually 1-3 days) | Fecal→oral spread, contaminated food/water | While diarrhea is present; can spread for weeks after symptoms are gone | Yes (Four days) | Yes Until cleared by public health (negative stool testing may be required prior to return) | |
10-21 days (usually 14-16 days) | Skin contact | Until all the blisters have crusted over | None | None as long as the blisters are covered | |
Variable | Skin contact or contaminated items | As long as the bacteria are present | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | None unless required by a health care provider; athlete exclusions may be necessary | |
2-5 days | Droplet/infectious discharges | Until treated with antibiotics for 24 hours, or 10-21 days for untreated cases | Single cases: no Outbreaks: immediately | Yes until 12 hours after antibiotic treatment | |
10 days to three months (usually three weeks) | Sexual transmission | Until treated | Yes (One working day) | None | |
Two days to several months (usually 8-14 days) | Through breaks in the skin | Not spread person-to-person | Yes (Four days) | None | |
Disease agent | Incubation period | Transmission | Contagious period | Report to public health* | Exclusion |
Varies | Bites from infected tick | Not spread person-to-person (except Colorado tick fever) | Yes (Four days) | None | |
2-10 weeks | Airborne | As long as symptoms are present or until case is on the treatment | Yes (One working day) | Yes (active cases) until on treatment and cleared by public health | |
Up to 14 days (usually 3-5 days) | Varies | Not spread person-to-person | Yes (One working day) | None | |
5- 21 days (usually 7-10 days) | Droplet/infectious discharges | Until after the third week of coughing, or until after five days of treatment | Yes (one working day) | Yes until five days after treatment or until three weeks after cough onset |
*Outbreaks of any disease are reportable to public health immediately