Wellness and Health Services Communicable Diseases Policy

Laredo College has a Wellness and Health Services Communicable Diseases Policy which is included in the LC Manual of Policy, Section F - Students – FFAC (Local). This Policy includes the following information:

Communicable diseases include, but are not limited to, measles, influenza, viral hepatitis-A (infectious hepatitis), viral hepatitis-B (serum hepatitis), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), AIDS, AIDS-Related Complex (ARC), leprosy, and tuberculosis. For the purposes of this policy, the term "HIV infection" shall include AIDS, AIDS-Related Complex (ARC), and a positive test for the antibody to human immunodeficiency virus.

The College District’s decisions involving persons who have communicable diseases shall be based on current and well-informed medical judgments concerning the disease, the risks of transmitting the illness to others, the symptoms and special circumstances of each individual who has a communicable disease, and a careful weighing of the identified risks and the available alternatives for responding to a student with a communicable disease.

The College District shall not discriminate in enrollment against any student solely on the ground that the student has a communicable disease. A member of the student body of the College District shall not be denied access to a College District facility, program, function, or campus activity solely on the grounds that the student has a communicable disease. The College District reserves the right to exclude a person with a communicable disease from College District facilities, programs, functions, and campus activities if the College District makes a medically based determination that the restriction is necessary for the welfare of the person who has the communicable disease and/or the welfare of the other members of the College District community.

The College District shall comply with all pertinent statutes and regulations that protect the privacy of persons in the College District community who have a communicable disease. The College District shall ensure that procedural safeguards sufficient to maintain the strictest confidence about persons who have HIV infection are in effect throughout the College District.

The College District shall develop and maintain a comprehensive education program about HIV infection for members of the College District community. The program shall address current medical opinions about the nature of HIV infection and its symptoms, methods of transmission, types of behavior that increase the risk of transmission of the disease, and preventive measures for avoiding infection.