Communicable Disease Program (CDP)

The CDP investigates cases of communicable disease, identifies and responds to outbreaks, provides education and disease prevention recommendations to the public and multiple work sectors, and documents disease incidence. The team regularly works with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE)

Communicable diseases are illnesses that can be passed to people via multiple routes of transmission: from person to person, through contact with sick animals, via bites from fleas, mosquitoes, or ticks, or through ingestion of contaminated food or water. Common germs that make people sick include bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

Certain diseases are identified as communicable reportable conditions. These are diseases recognized as a concern to public health by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) for their contagiousness, severity, or frequency. The Colorado Board of Health requires these diseases to be reported by laboratories and physicians.