Communicable Disease Services

Mission

To prevent disease through screening, referral, outbreak preparedness, employee safety and infection control and to control disease through screening, proper identification, treatment, follow-up, and implementation of control measures.

Summary

Communicable and some chronic disease screening and referral is provided. Staff prepare for disease outbreaks and public health disasters and work to prevent employee accidents and exposures to communicable disease in the work setting. Disease control provides immunizations, screening, preventive treatment, testing, surveillance, and follow-up for communicable disease.

Operations

Disease Prevention

Clients are screened in the general clinic at the Health Department for a variety of conditions/diseases. Clients will typically receive test results during the same visit. If a problem is found, clients will be referred to a doctor. A few tests are free, but most have a set fee. A current list of charges is available by calling the department.

Disease Control

Screening and testing for communicable disease such as sexually transmitted diseases or tuberculosis are provided in the Health Department, most free of charge, from nurses who have standing orders from the department's medical consultants. The treatment protocols are based on guidelines from the National Center for Disease Control and the State of North Carolina, Communicable Disease Branch. The staff identify and alert contacts of clients that may have been exposed and request that they come in for testing and/or treatment as well. If they have difficulty in getting names of contacts, they can request help from the Communicable Disease Branch. All communicable diseases listed on the state communicable disease report card are to be reported to the Health Department then forwarded to the communicable disease section in Raleigh. Most of these will require follow up by the communicable disease nurse to ensure the clients are aware of their condition, are following control measures if any are necessary, and are receiving proper care from their physician.

The Communicable Disease Division maintains a registry of children born to Randolph County residents and tracks these children up to age two to make sure they are age appropriately immunized. This age group is the State's target population.