In most counties, the public health department has asked doctors and clinical laboratories to notify them when certain diseases are diagnosed. These typically include infections with Salmonella, E. coli O157, and other foodborne diseases, as well as tuberculosis, and many other communicable diseases. This is done to detect outbreaks, and to protect public health. If you have a notifiable disease the county health department may have been notified, and may call you to make sure that you are improving and to learn more about how you might have caught it, as well as to advise you about how to keep it from spreading any further. Please cooperate with the public health nurse or investigator if they call you.

If you think you or others became ill from eating the same food, please report this outbreak to your local (city or county) health department. By investigating outbreaks, public health officials learn about problems in food production that lead to illness. Applying what is learned in the investigation of one outbreak can help to prevent many future illnesses.

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This page last reviewed September 7, 1999

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Infectious Diseases
Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases