Communicable Disease

A communicable disease is a disease that passes between people or animals. People sometimes refer to communicable diseases as "infectious" or "transmittable."

A communicable disease can have a large impact on a population if infected individuals do not obtain the treatment they need or do not take the necessary steps to prevent the disease from spreading to other people.

Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Program

The goal of the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control program is to ensure proper reporting of communicable diseases, investigate suspected outbreaks and put into place disease control and prevention measures. Our strategies include:

  • Monitoring case reports from a variety of sources in the community
  • Setting systems into place to identify emerging diseases, including bioterrorism events
  • Enforcing public health laws in order to control diseases and other hazards, which may be harmful to the public health
  • Collaborating with other health agencies and community partners to design and implement measures to prevent outbreak of disease in the community