What is Communicable disease?

“Communicable” means that it can be transmitted from person to person. Diseases that can spread throughout the population pose a great threat to public health. Because of this, we spend a lot of time tracking these diseases and working to prevent their spread. Examples of diseases we track:

  • Influenza
  • COVID-19
  • Legionella
  • RSV
  • MRSA
  • Tick-borne illnesses

Disease Surveillance is a combined effort involving the Health Center, local physicians, schools, and the hospital.  Law mandates the reporting of selected communicable diseases to the local health departments and the Missouri Department of Health and Human Services. For a list of reportable Communicable Diseases, see the following link.  http://www.dhss.mo.gov/living/healthcondiseases/communicable/index.php