Communicable Disease
Paulding County Health Department tracks, reports, and conducts surveillance of Communicable Diseases in Paulding County. Nursing staff receives reports of Communicable Diseases from laboratories and healthcare providers. When a report is received, nursing staff follows Ohio’s Communicable Disease Reporting Requirements. The purpose of disease reporting is to control and prevent the disease being reported, document the distribution of disease in Ohio, and identify disease outbreaks.
In addition to tracking, reporting, and surveillance, the health department receives many calls from people concerned about the risk of exposure to various germs and illnesses. A person can become infected in many different ways, including:
- From person to person through direct contact or close contact with an infectious person.
- From touching infectious material and then touching eyes, nose, or mouth.
- From a healthy person who is not sick or not showing illness symptoms but is a “carrier” and spreads illness to others.
- From household pets and other animals that may carry germs.
- The rabies virus (spread through saliva), which can infect cats and dogs, is one of the more severe illnesses that can infect humans. Pet reptiles, like turtles and chickens, can transmit Salmonella bacteria to humans.
- From tiny critters, such as mosquitoes and ticks, that carry a variety of germs, such as the germs that cause West Nile Virus and Lyme disease.
- From contaminated water and food resulting in food-borne illness or “food poisoning.”
The number one tool for preventing the spread of germs is practicing good hand washing. This seems simple, yet many people ignore this primary germ stopper. It is best to wash hands with soap and clean water for 20 seconds (twice as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday”), rubbing hands together to make a lather. If soap and water are unavailable, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer can be used to clean the hands, rubbing the product over all surfaces of the hands and fingers until the hands are dry.
To report a communicable disease, please call the Paulding County Health Department at (419) 399-3921. After hours, call the Paulding County Sheriff’s office at (419) 399-3791.