Salt Lake Valley Health Department Fact Sheets

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	Epidemiology and Surveillance Program The principal function of the Epidemiology/Surveillance program is to monitor the health of the community encompassed by Salt Lake County. This is achieved by routine evaluation of communicable disease incidence, in addition to evaluation of special surveillance projects. Partnerships with programs within the Salt Lake Valley Health Department, as well as with other agencies outside of SLVHD (Utah Department of Health, hospital staff, private physicians, etc.) are crucial in meeting the responsibilities of the program. The program depends on the cooperation of these agencies to provide information for the community, as well as to provide services such as following up with communicable disease clients or investigating potential environmental sources of illness. During 2000: · The Epidemiology/Surveillance program received over 5,000 reports of communicable diseases, childhood lead poisonings, and firearm related injuries. Over 4,000 of these reports were of communicable diseases. By maintaining a communicable disease database, these reports were evaluated to assess trends of disease incidence. Case information was then provided to the Communicable Disease program, and clients were provided medication, education or other health information to prevent disease spread. Information about potential sources of the disease was collected and analyzed to determine how to stop others from getting ill. · Over 10 food-borne disease outbreaks were identified and over 500 residents were interviewed to determine the cause of illness. Many County residents were ill due to outbreaks of Salmonella that were linked to eating establishments with contamination issues and poor food handling practices. Information was collected from sick individuals and used to identify the source of their infection so that actions could be taken to ensure food safety. · An investigation of water-borne illness was initiated after a boil advisory was issued in the County to ensure that excess illness did not occur as a result of water contamination. The Epidemiology/Surveillance program conducts special surveillance projects to address health issues other than communicable disease incidence within the community. For example, the Firearm Related Injuries project has collected data to characterize the distribution of firearm related injuries in the community. This data may be used to direct interventions to prevent firearm morbidity and mortality due to accidents, suicides, and homicides. Additionally, during 2000, the Epidemiology/Surveillance program conducted a project in Northwest Salt Lake City designed to identify community needs and gaps in health care services. The information obtained from this project will provide valuable insights that will be used to work with the community to better address their health care needs. The Epidemiology/Surveillance program also provides vital assistance with mapping public health data to various agencies and programs within the SLVHD.

Epidemiology and Surveillance Program