Communicable Disease Reporting
One of the primary functions of a local health department is to help stop the spread of disease in a community. The Communicable Disease Reports are created by Public Health’s epidemiology program and are designed to provide current and historical information about disease in our community. These reports are used by Public Health programs, healthcare providers, local governments, and community partners to help inform their decision-making process when it comes to improving health outcomes.

If you are a member of the public and are concerned you have a communicable disease, contact your doctor or a local hospital.
What is a communicable disease?
- Any disease that spreads from one person to another.
What are some ways that communicable diseases spread?
- Directly through physical contact with an infected person, such as through touch (staphylococcus), sexual intercourse (gonorrhea, HIV), fecal/oral transmission (hepatitis A), or large respiratory droplets from coughs and sneezes (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)
- Breathing small respiratory droplets that travel through the air, such as tuberculosis or measles.
What do communicable disease reporting nurses do?
- Gather reports of diseases in Montgomery County
- Conduct interviews to determine common risk factors
- Educate exposed individuals and families
- Provide recommendations for treatment and isolation
- Determine the level of disease in the community
- Control and prevent the spread of communicable diseases
Who needs to report diseases to the local health department?
- Disease prevention and control is a cooperative effort involving health care providers and local and state health department personnel.
- The State of Ohio requires all labs, physicians, hospitals, and other health professionals to report suspected and confirmed cases of certain infectious diseases to the local health department.
- These reports protect the public’s health by quickly identifying outbreaks.
Which diseases must be reported to the local health department?
- Examples of some reportable illnesses include measles, whooping cough, and chickenpox. Also reportable are foodborne illnesses such as Salmonella and E. Coli. Know Your ABCs: A Quick Guide to Reportable Infectious Diseases in Ohio lists reportable diseases by Class (A, B, or C).
How quickly must diseases by reported to the local health department?
Class | Report what? | Report how quickly? |
---|---|---|
Class A | A case, a suspected case, or a positive lab result | Immediately |
Class B | A case, a suspected case, or a positive lab result | By the end of the next business day |
Class C | An outbreak, incident or epidemic of a non-Class A or Class B disease | By the end of the next business day |
All reportable diseases should be reported by healthcare professionals to the Communicable Disease Reporting Nurse by telephone, mail, or fax.
- To report a Class A Communicable disease please call 937-225-4508 immediately.
- To report a Class B or C Communicable disease
- Please call 937-225-4508 OR
- Complete an Ohio Confidential Reportable Disease Form at Confidential Reportable Disease Form OR
- Fax this form to the Communicable Disease Reporting Nurses at 937-224-8853
- Resources
- Documents
- Monthly Reports
- Communicable Disease Annual Reports
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22 March 201687 KB
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20 December 2022349 KB
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30 November 2022350 KB
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01 September 2022184 KB
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04 August 2022186 KB
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01 July 2022268 KB
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24 May 2022268 KB
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29 April 2022239 KB
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31 March 2022217 KB
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08 March 2022216 KB
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13 May 2022693 KB
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24 March 2021423 KB
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02 March 2020399 KB
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27 March 2019703 KB
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13 March 2018838 KB
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28 March 20171.03 MB
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04 January 2016699 KB
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01 January 2015691 KB