Bureau of Epidemiology and Disease Control
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Program Overview
The Bureau of Epidemiology and Disease Control plays a central role in the Health Department’s mission to prevent the occurrence and spread of communicable disease. The New York Sanitary Code designates over 70 communicable diseases as reportable. The Bureau maintains surveillance for each disease through investigation performed by experienced epidemiological staff. Surveillance activities include identifying patterns and clusters to find common source outbreaks and tracing chains of infection to their origin. At times, food handlers, vendors, wholesale suppliers or restaurateurs are identified as the point source of infection and immediate actions are taken to ensure the safety of the public. The Public Health staff conducts daily emergency room surveillance 365 days a year to ascertain suspect patient presentations, unexpected illness, unusual clusters that may indicate a biological terrorist event or communicable disease in the community.
The County conducts on average 50 Influenza clinics for high-risk adults ages 18 and over and also administers the Pneumococcal vaccine providing long term protection.
The clinics are held at various senior citizen sites, nutrition and community centers and libraries to make it convenient for high risk SuffolkCounty residents to get the vaccine.
The Bureau operates a Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Unit, investigating reported cases of Chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV/AIDS. The Unit initiates disease intervention strategies which include interview of the index patient, counseling and referrals as needed, contacts & partner notification and follow-up and investigation of possible clusters. Medical providers are contacted to ensure treatment is completed. |
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