What we do:

To reduce the spread and effects of communicable diseases, the Hays County Health Department’s Communicable Disease Team, composed of Epidemiologists and the TB/Communicable Disease Nurses, responds to all communicable disease reports.

The team provides a reporting and investigation mechanism that coordinates with local, regional, state, and national health organizations.

Communicable disease refers to a variety of illnesses or adverse health outcomes that may be transmitted by people, vectors or from the environment. Some examples of transmission include person to person contact (ex: sneezing, coughing, blood transfer, etc.) and those spread by contaminated food, water, animals, and vectors; such as rabies, West Nile virus, Lyme Disease, typhus, and salmonella. Health care practitioners in the epidemiology branch of medicine study the causes, distribution, and control of communicable diseases to help protect populations.

The Communicable Disease Team provides the following services:

• Collection of reports, investigation, and follow-up of any reportable communicable disease to determine the possible origin and prevent further spread of the disease
• Assists law enforcement investigations into suspected cases of terrorism by use of infectious agents
• Provides information for the general public on communicable disease origin, prevention, and treatment
• Assists daycares and schools in prevention, control, and monitoring of communicable diseases
• Responds to and works closely with the Texas Department of State Health Services and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in reporting, investigating, and follow-up of communicable diseases
• Assistance with referral to appropriate medical services