Health Department News Articles

What You Need to Know about Shingles Vaccination

The vaccine for Shingles (Zostavax) is recommended for persons 60 years and older to prevent this disease. The older a person is, the more severe the effects are from shingles disease, so all adults 60 years and older should get the shingles vaccine.

Please read the entire article on the shingles vaccine.

Health Department Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 25, 2013

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH WARNS OF POSSIBLE WASTEWATER CONTAMINATION

GA wastewater overflow may impact Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers

Contact: DOH Communication (805) 245-4111

Tallahassee - The Florida Department of Health (DOH) today issued an advisory to residents in the counties surrounding the Withlacoochee and Suwannee rivers. The city of Valdosta utility department has located a sanitary sewer overflow which has spilled into the Withlacoochee River. The Withlacoochee flows south and connects with the Suwannee River.

Until further information is known regarding possible contamination of the rivers, citizens are urged to avoid contact with the Withlacoochee and Suwannee rivers. This includes those individuals in the counties of Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, and Suwannee counties.

Water contaminated by wastewater overflow presents several health hazards to humans and may contain untreated human sewage with microbes that could cause gastro-intestinal and other diseases.

Anyone that comes in contact with the river water, should wash thoroughly, especially before eating or drinking. Children and elderly, as well as people with depressed immune systems, are particularly vulnerable to disease so every precaution should be taken to avoid the river water.

For more information about the potential health effects of wastewater overflow, residents are encouraged to contact their local county health department. To find contact information for your county health department, please visit http://www.doh.state.fl.us/chdsitelist.htm.

Follow us on Twitter at @HealthyFla and on Facebook. For news story ideas, interviews, videos and more from DOH Communications visit the DOH Online Newsroom.

DOH protects, promotes and improves the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Health Department Newsletters

Suwannee County Health Department's Fall 2012 Newsletter.