Emerging Issues & Outbreaks
Stay Up-to-Date with Emerging Issues and Outbreaks in Illinois
ICAAP is dedicated to keeping our pediatric health care provider community up-to-date on the latest issues affecting the health and well-being of children and families in Illinois. Refer to the updates and resources below to better support your response efforts.
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Communicable Diseases
H5N1 Updates
Blueprint for Pandemic Readiness
Respiratory Virus Season
Receive Important Communications
Recent Health Alerts
Here you will find relevant alerts from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), The National American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- May 6, 2025: Southern Illinois Outbreak and Update
- May 2, 2025: Updated Health Advisory Measles in Illinois in 2025
- April 30, 2025: Joint Press Release Public Health Officials Confirm Two Measles Cases in Cook County
- April 23, 2025: News Release IDPH Reports First Measles Case of 2025 in Southern Illinois
- March 28, 2025: IDPH SIREN Director Dr. Vohra on Measles Response
- March 7, 2025: CDC HAN Measles and Guidance on Travel Season
- March 4, 2025: IDPH SIREN Measles Update
Measles Resources
Measles Outreach & Tools from the AAP
Review the AAP’s recommendations for measles vaccination, available vaccines, vaccine storage guidance, and patient outreach materials.
Measles Frequently Asked Questions from the AAP
Get answers about immunocompromised patients, infectious disease control, testing, treatment, timing and more with this Measles FAQ provided by the AAP
Use these tools and resources provided by the AAP to promote timely measles vaccination and combating misinformation. Share these messages on your own social networks using these prepared posts to remind families about why the protecting themselves from Measles is important.
Measles Infection Control Measures
Preventing the Spread of Measles in Healthcare Settings
Know the signs of measles so you can diagnose cases early and help patients quarantine properly; take proper patient isolation measures; follow cleaning protocol; and help educate other health care providers using our new infection control resources including:
Health Care Provider Cleaning Checklist
Maintaining the appropriate cleaning and disinfecting protocols before and after patient visits is one way to prevent the spread of measles in your facility. Use this checklist to keep you, your team, and your patients safe before, during, and after exams with patients presenting with measles symptoms.
4 Steps to Keeping Your team, Your Patients, and Yourself Safe from the Measles
Learn the symptoms of the measles, get tips on how to remotely triage suspected cases, get guidance on appropriate recommendations, and learn how to report cases to the correct parties for further investigation and source tracking with this easy reference guide.
Sharable Measles Vaccine Social Posts for Clinicians
Reach your patients wherever they are with approachable, friendly, and easy to share social media posts designed to drive confidence in measles vaccination. In these uncertain times, it's more important than ever to share fact- and evidenced-based information to combat mis- and disinformation. Get started by sharing these posts today!
Patient Facing Materials:
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- Measles and the Vaccine (Shot) to Prevent It
- Healthychildren.org: How to Protect Your Children During a Measles Outbreak and Protecting Your Baby From a Measles Outbreak FAQ
- Awaiting Measles Test Results Handout
- Measles isn't just a little rash
- Do You Need A Measles Vaccine?
Clinical Resources:
- IDPH Measles Exposure Locations
- Measles: symptoms, spread & SSPE | Doctors Talk | Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia - YouTube
- AAP Red Book Online Webinars
- Have You Ever Diagnosed Measles? - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
- Measles one-pager from Project Firstline (AAP)
- Red Book Online Outbreaks: Measles
- CDC Measles Cases and Outbreaks Tracking
- Why Are We Seeing Measles Outbreaks? from CHOP
- National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) measles page
- Measles PEP Chart from the City of New York
- Tips for reading international vaccine records from ICAAP
- Mitigating the Impact of Community Measles in Your Clinic from IDPH
- Preparing your Clinic Ahead of Time for Measles from IDPH
- Healthcare Facility Signs: Sign 1 and Sign 2
Avian Influenza A Virus
People with close or prolonged, unprotected exposures to infected birds or other animals (including livestock), or environments contaminated by infected birds or other animals, are at risk of infection. CDC has interim recommendations for prevention, monitoring, and public health investigations of HPAI A(H5N1) viruses.
Surveillance Updates & Resources
- CDPH Bird Flu page
- March 13, 2025: IDPH SIREN Guidance for Health Care Personnel Exposure to Patients with Suspected or Confirmed H5N1
- January 30, 2025: CDPH H5N1 Situational Awareness Webinar and FAQ
- January 28, 2025: AAP News New H5N1 Strain of Bird Flu Seen for the First Time in U.S.
- January 24, 2025: CDPH HAN Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
- January 23, 2025: IDPH H5N1 Updates and Resources
- January 16, 2025: IDPH SIREN IDPH will be limiting diagnostic Flu A subtyping
- December 23, 2024: IDPH SIREN Novel Influenza A(H5N1) Virus, Illinois, 2024: Health Advisory to Clinicians for Early Detection of Human Infections
- FDA lays out process to update bird flu vaccines in preparation for pandemic
- Current US Bird Flu CDC Situation
- CDC guidance: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Virus in Animals: Interim Recommendations
- AAP Healthy Families Avian Flu: Facts for Families
- National Pediatric Disaster Coalition Updates
Respiratory Virus Season
Access current respiratory illness activity data throughout the state and explore the most recent news related to this year's respiratory illness season.
Dashboards
News
- FDA announces a trivalent formula for the 2025-2026 flu vaccines. There is no anticipated delay on vaccine production or availability.
- IDPH: Updated Guidance for Preventing and Controlling Acute Respiratory Illness Outbreaks
- Chicago influenza and COVID-19 vaccine coverage is low.
Check out our Tackling Respiratory Viruses page for more on flu, COVID-19, and RSV.
Receive Important Communications
Self-register for SIREN (State of Illinois Rapid Electronic Notification) to receive important notifications from IDPH. Select IDPH and then you can select your hospital/clinic or select IDPH > Select Organization > Expand DPH Partners List > Select DPH Pediatricians
Please note that SIREN has recently changed platforms and may require additional steps to ensure you are able to receive all communications. Review instructions from Juvare, which is the SIREN platform's vendor and is a trusted/secure resource.
Sign up for alerts from the CDC Emergency Preparedness and Responses.
Updates on Medicaid and coverage for children can be found on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website.
Self-register for the Chicago Department of Public Health's Health Alert Network (HAN).
Blueprint for Pediatric-Specific Readiness in Pandemics & Disasters
This must-read report provides recommendations on how to ensure children’s physical and mental health care needs are considered in planning for pandemics, disasters and public health emergencies. Children have unique physical, mental and social needs that differ from adults, and there are opportunities to ensure these considerations are included in future pandemic and disaster planning. The recommendations in the blueprint report incorporate the results of a May 2023 online survey developed in partnership with FTI Consulting and completed by over 40 CHA members and Pediatric Pandemic Network (PPN) participants. The report also includes documented insights from a range of experts working in pediatric medicine, pediatric disaster response, pharmacy and supply chain issues and more.