The mission of the Richland County Health Department Communicable Disease section is to reduce sickness and death due to communicable disease through surveillance, case investigation, outbreak intervention, worker training and public education. We work with healthcare providers, schools and businesses to ensure that the public is safe and healthy. Reporting of communicable diseases is strictly confidential and absolutely neccessary to help us understand and respond to potential disease outbreaks and track the health of the community.

The community can help us prevent communicable diseases by getting themselves and their children immunized and through hand washing. Hand washing, when done correctly, is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of diseases. Good hand washing technique is easy to learn and can significantly reduce the spread of infectious diseases among children and adults.

The Richland County Health Department provides immunizations for children and adults for vaccine-preventable diseases, including some of the vaccines neccessary for safe foreign travel. TB (tuberculosis) and STD (sexually-transmitted disease) testing are also available by appointment.