Tracking disease trends in Idaho involves the routine collection, analysis, and dissemination of health data provided by doctors, laboratories, and other health professionals about persons with certain diseases. Reporting of these diseases is mandated as outlined in Rules and Regulations Governing Idaho Reportable Diseases. In addition to acute and chronic infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, Salmonella, and AIDS, other diseases and conditions are also reportable under Idaho law, such as elevated blood lead. Reports of disease are made to the public health districts or to the Office of Epidemiology and Food Protection (OEFP) in the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, and are private and protected from further release. The data are maintained by the public health districts and the OEFP and used for responding to individual cases of disease (for example, restricting foodworkers with Salmonella infection from working until they are no longer contagious), determining disease impact, monitoring trends in disease incidence and prevalence, characterizing affected populations, prioritizing control efforts, and guiding prevention strategies.
The Idaho Reportable Disease Summary presents aggregated case counts of diseases reported to the OEFP during the calendar year. The data are organized in three ways:
- A statewide summary provides counts of all reportable disease cases among Idaho residents.
- County tables provide counts of reportable disease cases among residents in each of Idaho's 44 counties.
- Public Health District counts provide a summary of reportable disease cases occurring among residents in each of Idaho's 7 public health jurisdictions.
2005 Disease Summary
2006 Disease Summary
2007 Disease Summary