A communicable disease is one that is spread from one person to another through a variety of ways that include: contact with blood and bodily fluids; breathing in an airborne virus; or by being bitten by an insect.

How these diseases spread depends on the specific disease or infectious agent. Some ways in which communicable diseases spread are by:

• physical contact with an infected person, such as through touch (staphylococcus), sexual intercourse (gonorrhea, HIV), fecal/oral transmission (hepatitis A), or droplets (influenza, TB)
• contact with a contaminated surface or object (Norwalk virus), food (salmonella, E. coli), blood (HIV, hepatitis B), or water (cholera);
• bites from insects or animals capable of transmitting the disease (mosquito: malaria and yellow fever; flea: plague); and
• travel through the air, such as tuberculosis or measles.

Communicable Disease programs prevent the spread of disease through surveillance, outbreak investigation, case management and education.

• Investigation and Reporting
• HIV & Hepatitis Prevention
• Blood Borne Pathogen & HIV/AIDS Awareness Education
• Tuberculosis
• Vector Borne Disease