Communicable disease nurses provide help finding communicable disease testing (Including HIV, STDs, and TB), treatments, and assistance notifying individuals who have been exposed to HIV, STDs and TB about their risk and the need to get tested.

Communicable Disease Prevention offered at Grays Harbor County Public Health Department

Helps find communicable disease testing (Including HIV, STDs, and TB), treatments, and assistance notifying individuals who have been exposed.

Programs that are responsible for locating and contacting individuals known to have been exposed to a contagious disease with the objective of informing them of their exposure, providing a medical examination to determine if they have contracted the disease and/or offering treatment, if necessary.

Contact Tracing/Partner Notification

Programs that provide counseling services for individuals at risk for contracting or transmitting the HIV virus with the objective of supporting their ability to make behavior changes that will reduce their risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV. Counseling involves a personal risk assessment, development of a personalized action plan and the decision to seek an HIV test. Individuals who have a history of injection drug use, unprotected intercourse or sexual contact, sexual activity at a young age, multiple sex partners, sexually transmitted infection, and/or sex trade work are considered to be at high or increased risk and are targets for prevention counseling.

AIDS/HIV Prevention Counseling

Programs that identify individuals who have contracted gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes or other infections that are spread by sexual contact and diagnose their conditions. The procedure includes visual examinations, blood tests and analyses of discharge or samples taken from lesions.

Sexually Transmitted Infection Screening

Programs that offer HIV tests which are used to identify individuals who have been infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and are at risk for developing AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) or which are used to measure progression of the disease in people known to be infected. The most common HIV screening test is the enzyme immunoassay (EIA) which most frequently uses peripheral blood drawn from the arm or a finger as a sample, but can also be conducted using serum, oral fluids or urine. Repeatedly reactive EIA tests are confirmed using the Western blot or the immunofluorescence assay (IFA). The most common test that is used to measure disease progression is the PCR (polymeraise chain reaction) or viral load test. Many programs that provide HIV testing also provide pre-testing and post-test counseling which includes information about AIDS/HIV, reducing risks for HIV transmission, emotional support to help the individual deal with the testing process and test results, and information about and referral to other AIDS-related services.

HIV Testing

Programs that issue bulletins or otherwise inform the public of conditions which are conducive to the development and spread of a specific communicable disease or which advise the public of an outbreak that puts them at risk.

Disease Control Advisories

Programs that identify individuals who have contracted tuberculosis by administering chest x-rays; the Mantoux test, the von Pirquet test or the Vollmer patch test, all of which determine the presence of a tuberculosis infection based on a local inflammatory reaction to a sample of the bacillus which has been injected or rubbed into the skin; or other screening tools.

Tuberculosis Screening

Provides services that are vital in protecting the health and safety of the entire community by assisting in the following areas: communicable disease prevention, investigation & control immunizations, parent-child health, sexual health education, prevention, and communications & information sharing. 

Certain conditions, called notifiable conditions, must be reported to the Health District by health care providers, laboratories, and other health related organizations in accordance with the Revised Code of Washington.

Communicable Disease Control offered at Grant County Health District

Works at preventing the spread of communicable diseases is accomplished through providing education and information in individual or group settings.

Programs that control the occurrence of meningococcal disease/meningitis by monitoring the incidence of the disease in the general population, investigating individual outbreaks and identifying and screening recent contacts of people who are infected to stop the spread of the disease.

Meningitis Control

Programs that control the occurrence of West Nile Virus by monitoring the incidence of the disease in local bird and mammal populations using mechanisms like dead bird reporting hotlines, and promoting preventive measures to reduce the likelihood of mosquito bites such as the removal of standing water in homes and gardens, encourage people to wear long sleeved clothing and long pants when walking outside in the morning and evening in places where mosquitoes are prevalent, and the application of insect repellent containing DEET.

West Nile Virus Control

Programs that investigate reported cases of food poisoning from commercial sources (restaurants, vending machines, manufacturers, markets), ensure that the diagnosis is confirmed, identify the source of the problem, and work with the establishment in which the outbreak originated to prevent further transmission of the illness by disposing of the contaminated food and correcting the food handling practices that caused the problem.

Food Poisoning Investigation

Programs that attempt to control the occurrence of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a group of symptoms (including certain infections and/or cancers) that collectively characterize the condition and are the result of a weakening of the immune system caused by infection with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). Activities include surveillance of the occurrence of the disease in the community, investigation of individual cases, and development of case histories and other interventions that will help to increase the medical establishment's understanding of the causes of the diseases and potential methods of prevention and cure. AIDS control activities are often initiated by local HIV prevention planning groups that are responsible for developing needs assessments and planning long and short-term strategies specific to target communities as determined by the studies.

AIDS/HIV Control

Programs that control the occurrence of tuberculosis by monitoring the incidence of the disease in the general population, investigating individual outbreaks and identifying and screening recent contacts of people who are infected to stop the spread of the disease.

Tuberculosis Control

Supervised, structured programs that offer a wide range of outpatient services which may be coordinated by a case manager and may include individual and group counseling, 12-step meetings, social and recreational activities, educational and vocational services, life skills training, primary health care, perinatal health care, a program for family members, relapse prevention services, a continuing care program and supportive services (such as child care, transportation and parenting skills development) for individuals who have problems related to excessive use of alcohol and/or use of other drugs and need access to treatment to maintain their individual recovery plans but do not require the intensity of a day treatment program or 24-hour hospital care. Participants attend the program on a regularly scheduled basis at least once a month but usually more frequently depending on their individual needs. Intensive outpatient programs are usually available three or four days per week for three or four hours per day.

Comprehensive Outpatient Substance Use Disorder Treatment

Programs that control the occurrence of influenza by monitoring the incidence of the disease in the general population, identifying the level of influenza activity (no activity, sporadic, local, regional or widespread), determining the types of virus that are circulating, detecting changes in the influenza virus, investigating individual outbreaks, tracking the number of hospitalizations and flu-related deaths, evaluating prevention efforts and taking appropriate measures to prevent disease transmission.

Influenza Control

Programs that control the occurrence of gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes and other infections that are transmitted by sexual contact by monitoring the incidence of the infections in the general population, investigating individual outbreaks, and identifying and screening recent contacts of people who are infected to stop the spread of infections.

Sexually Transmitted Infection Control

Provides confidential services for at-risk people of all genders.  Services include diagnosis, treatment, prevention, education, PrEP and partner referrals.  HIV/AIDS program includes anonymous and confidential testing and counseling.

STD/AIDS/HIV - Sexually Transmitted Disease Program offered at Jefferson County Public Health Department

Provides confidential services for at-risk men and women.  Services include diagnosis, treatment, prevention, education, and partner referrals.  HIV/AIDS program includes anonymous and confidential testing and counseling.

Programs that provide comprehensive preventive, diagnostic and treatment services for people who have contracted gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes or another infection that is transmitted by sexual contact. Treatment usually involves an investigation of recent contacts of people who have been infected to stop the spread of the infection .

Sexually Transmitted Infection Treatment

Programs that provide information regarding practices that reduce the risk of an individual contracting an infection, including AIDS, through sexual activity.