Illinois Department of Public Health

The Illinois Department of Public Health is reminding the public that along with fall, October brings the start of the traditional respiratory virus season.

As part of National Food Safety Education Month, the La Salle County Health Department will host a food service seminar discussing safe food handling.

The year's first human case of West Nile Virus has been detected in Will County.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed multiple bills expanding reproductive rights in Illinois on Wednesday, including codifying a federal law that allows medical professionals to perform an abortion in response to a clinical emergency.

The Will County Health Department issued a warning Friday that mosquitos have tested positive for West Nile Virus in multiple Will County communities, though no human cases have yet been reported.

After two rabid bats were discovered recently in Will and Cook counties, health officials are warning to residents to avoid exposure to the deadly virus.

After rabid bats were found in Will and Cook counties, public health officials stress that if a bat is found inside a home, it is important to try and cover it with a container and contact animal control so it can be tested for rabies.

DeKalb County public health officials released information this week regarding how the community can learn to protect themselves from ticks and Lyme disease, part of their “Fight the Bite” campaign for Lyme Disease Awareness Month.

The Illinois Department of Public Health urges well-owners to regularly test wells for contaminants to maintain the safety of their drinking water.

Policies and procedures have been implemented by the Illinois Veterans’ Home in La Salle “out of an abundance of caution,” following possible cases of an infectious disease, an Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs spokesperson said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration emphasizes that the commercial milk supply is safe because of the pasteurization process, which destroys bacteria and viruses in milk. No cases of H5N1 influenza have been reported in Illinois, according to the IDPH.

Court proceedings will move forward for 32 families who lost loved ones in the COVID-19 outbreak at the state-run La Salle Veterans’ Home in November 2020.

Gov. JB Pritzker’s plan to create a new state agency to oversee Illinois’ various early childhood programs moved forward on Friday after the state Senate’s unanimous approval. It was one of 244 bills that cleared the Senate this week.

Administrators at Marklund Hyde Center say they are investigating a case of abuse against a resident of the Geneva nursing home campus.

The advisories are based on routine testing conducted by the Illinois Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program, which was updated last fall to include testing for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals.”

The IDPH alerted healthcare facilities, especially hospital emergency departments, to be on a lookout for patients who present symptoms similar to botulism following a cluster of two cases reported in Illinois of people who received injections in La Salle County of Botox.

Nearly 60% of those falling sick are children age 4 and younger, Chicago Department of Public Health records show. Three cases were reported in suburban Cook, Lake and Will counties; the rest involve Chicago residents.

The Illinois Department of Public Health has issued a warning going into the holidays to take extra health precautions as COVID-19, flu, and RSV numbers continue to rise.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois Department of Public Health announce Illinois has awarded $3.5 million in funding to 19 applicants across the state to support post-pandemic child and adolescent health.

“Protecting yourself and your loved ones now will ensure protection throughout the fall/winter respiratory virus season," said IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra

Mabley Developmental Center in Dixon, a state-operated residential facility that serves those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, will not lose Medicare funding despite receiving recent citations from state surveyors for failing to protect its residents from harm.

So far this year, 27 rabid bats have been found in 14 Illinois counties.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, salmonella cases have been identified so far in Chicago as well as Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties. Those illnesses were reported between April 25 and May 18.

Illinois public health officials are warning residents of a multistate outbreak of salmonella and a flour recall linked to Gold Medal branded flour, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Two cases have been reported in Illinois.

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker asserted Thursday that Illinois Valley residents’ defiance of the state’s COVID-19 mitigations played a factor in the 2020 coronavirus outbreak that resulted in 36 residents deaths at the Illinois Veterans Home in La Salle.

State health department adopts CDC recommendations on isolation and quarantines. Vax Verify users can also use an app to share vaccination status.

IDPH said 40 human cases of West Nile virus have been reported in Illinois

Crystal Lake Mayor Haig Haleblian said the mask mandate is “a very small price for us to be able to continue to live our lives as normally as possible through through this pandemic.”