Report illness online

Here is a press release from Yolo County that is kind of interesting.


Reporting Food and Waterborne Illness Just Got Easier

Woodland, CA – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 76 million Americans suffer from foodborne illness, often referred to as food poisoning, every year. Numbers are estimated, since a great majority of these cases are mild and cause symptoms for only a day or two. People are less likely to report symptoms when they start to feel better. In order to get a more accurate picture of foodborne illness, in the United States , and to help people report a possible case of foodborne illness, a new national web-based service has been developed.

The link to this service is available on the website for the Yolo County Health Department at http://www.yolohealth.org/. “Once someone submits a form, it is emailed to us for review, investigation, follow-up, or other appropriate action” states Bruce Sarazin , Director of the Yolo County Environmental Health Division. “This website provides anyone with a computer and internet connection an easy way to report illness, since they can submit a report at any time, on any day of the week.”

The service achieves faster distribution of the reported information to and within the divisions of the health department. “We want to encourage the public to use this service because it allows us to respond to affected individuals faster, and provide follow up and other services quicker,” states Dr. Bette Hinton , Yolo County Health Department Director-Health Officer. “It also benefits the health department and the community by helping us identify potential outbreaks sooner.”

The link connects to a national foodborne illness information collection system operated by the University of Michigan through grants from the federal government.

For more information about the web-based reporting system, please visit the Yolo County Health Department website, http://www.yolohealth.org/ or call the Yolo County Health Department Environmental Health Division at (530) 666-8646.