The public health department provides information on how to deal with infectious diseases. This applies in particular to infectious diseases where it is not possible to attend a daycare center, school or workplace from an infection hygiene perspective. The aim is to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

The public health department is a member of the Rhine-Main MRE network. It informs and advises doctors, medical facilities, care facilities, emergency services as well as patients and their relatives on how to deal with multi-resistant pathogens (MRE).

Its tasks are

• Receiving and forwarding reports in accordance with the Infection Protection Act IfSG (§6, §7, §8, §12)
• Compiling statistics on reported infectious diseases
• Taking blood samples and laboratory tests, in particular to exclude or detect sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis