38 CFR Part 4, Rating Schedule

38 CFR § 4.88b

Schedule of ratings-infectious diseases, immune disorders and nutritional deficiencies

Cited in claims for a chronic infectious disease, HIV, lupus, or chronic fatigue syndrome.

How the Board actually uses this section

Original RateMyVSO research, catalogued from the full archive of published Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions. No other source measures how each regulation plays out at the Board.

45.7%
granted at least one issue
2,593
published decisions citing it

The grant figure reflects the mix of claims where this section comes up, not the legal merit of any single claim.

Read the 2,593 decisions citing § 4.88b

The conditions it decides

Decision counts per diagnostic code. Select a bar to read those exact Board decisions.

What this regulation says, in plain English

This is VA's rating schedule for infectious diseases, immune disorders, and nutritional deficiencies, covering conditions like malaria, leprosy, tuberculosis (miliary), Lyme disease, lupus, HIV-related illness, chronic fatigue syndrome, and vitamin deficiency diseases. Most infections use a general formula, 100 percent while active, then a rating based on whatever lasting residual damage remains in the affected body system.

Read the full text of 38 CFR § 4.88b

This text was last amended by VA on August 11, 2019. We check it against eCFR every week.

Rate any residual disability of infection within the appropriate body system as indicated by the notes in the evaluation criteria. As applicable, consider the long-term health effects potentially associated with infectious diseases as listed in § 3.317(d) of this chapter, specifically Brucellosis, Campylobacter jejuni, Coxiella burnetii (Q fever), Malaria, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Nontyphoid Salmonella, Shigella, Visceral Leishmaniasis, and West Nile virus.

See the full table on eCFR.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 1155)

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