Clinical Materials
Infectious Disease Reporting

Submitting clinical materials for a reportable disease to the Minnesota Department of Health.

Modified 9/27/2024

On this page:
What to submit 
Shipping methods
Clinical guide to services

What to submit:

If the disease that you are reporting requires submission of clinical materials, please submit a clinical isolate containing the infectious agent.

If an isolate is not available, submit material containing the infectious agent in the following order of preference:

1. a patient specimen;
2. nucleic acid; or
3. other laboratory material.

All medical laboratories that perform genetic sequencing for any diseases listed should submit sequence data upon request.

Shipping methods:

• It is the responsibility of the submitting laboratory to determine the appropriate packaging and shipping for patient specimens and culture isolates.
  • Regulations: Hazardous materials shipping
    U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration govern the transportation of hazardous materials by highway, rail, vessel, and air.
• If you are using a courier, use regulatory compliant transport packaging and send to:
  • Minnesota Department of Health
    601 North Robert Street
    St. Paul, MN 55155
• If courier transport is not available, the isolate may be sent by U.S. mail. Use regulatory compliant transport packaging and send to:
  • Minnesota Department of Health
    601 Robert St. N
    PO Box 64899
    St. Paul, MN 55164-0899 
     
• To request pre-paid transport labels (both mail and courier) and packaging, call the MDH Public Health Laboratory Specimen Handling Unit at 651-201-5200. 
  
   
• If you need assistance with transport issues, 
  call MDH Specimen Receiving at 651-201-4953
   

Clinical guide to services

• Clinical Laboratory
  Clinical Guide to Services, forms for request of MDH laboratory supply materials and virology specimen submission. 
   

Please call the MDH Public Health Laboratory at 651-201-5200 for further instructions.

More about submitting clinical materials

The Commissioner of Health may modify clinical submission requirements if certain circumstances exist, the public’s health is not at risk, and one of the following circumstances occurs:

• Laboratory testing methods or capabilities are not sufficient or adequate to determine the presence of a certain pathogen;
• Surveillance needs have changed; or
• Evolving pathogen knowledge indicates that either the pathogen is no longer a concern or advances in diagnostic testing provide the necessary information to public health previously understood.