At For the purposes of infection control, notifiable communicable diseases and notifiable laboratory findings of pathogens are reported to the public health department. The aim is to prevent communicable diseases in humans, to detect infections at an early stage and to prevent their further spread.

The Infection Protection Act (IfSG) obliges, for example, physicians in medical practices and hospitals as well as physicians in examination offices and laboratories to report to the health authorities. A distinction is made between reports of diseases, pathogens and vaccinations by name and non-name reports of specific pathogens.

Named reports:

Primarily physicians and laboratories for medical diagnostics, but also certain institutions and companies, are obligated to report to the locally responsible public health authorities the diseases and evidence of pathogens listed in the law or corresponding suspected cases. The physician must also notify the health authorities of any damage to health after vaccination that goes beyond the usual extent of a vaccination reaction. The required reporting forms are provided by the respective state authorities. The notification by the physician or the laboratory must be made by name, i.e. with the name and address of the person concerned, so that the public health department can check the facts and take measures to protect against infection. A transmission of the data via the state office to the Robert Koch Institute (diseases and pathogens) or the Paul Ehrlich Institute (vaccination damage) is not made by name.

Non-name reporting:

The pathogen detections mentioned in § 7 para. 3 IfSG, e.g. HIV, are reported by the laboratory non-namely (without naming the personal data of the person concerned) directly to the Robert Koch Institute. The RKI provides special laboratory reporting forms for this purpose.

The public health department offers free advice and, in certain cases, free examinations (e.g. HIV test).