The Delaware Division of Public Health is asking you to consider enrollment in the CDC’s ILINet provider program. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Program (ILINet) is a collaborative effort between healthcare providers, the Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH), and the CDC. Data reported by ILINet sentinel providers, in combination with other influenza surveillance data, provide a picture of influenza virus and influenza-like illness (ILI) activity in Delaware and the U.S.
Each week, ILINet providers report the number of patient visits each week and the number of patient visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) by age group (0-4 years, 5-24 years, 25-49 years, 50-64 years, and 65+ years) year round. ILI is defined by: Fever (≥ 100°F [37.8°C], oral or equivalent and a cough and/or sore throat.
Reports are submitted on a weekly basis via the internet or by fax to a central data repository at CDC. It takes less than 30 minutes a week to compile and report the data.
Benefits of enrolling in the ILINet program are:
- Delaware’s ILINet providers can submit up to three patient specimens daily to the Delaware Division of Public Health Laboratory for virus testing and sub-typing. All shipping supplies and testing fees are covered by the program.
- ILINet providers receive feedback on the data submitted as well as summaries of regional, statewide and national influenza data.
- CDC provides free annual subscriptions to (1) CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and (2) Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal.
- In addition, two employees from each of your facilities will receive a complementary registration for DPH’s Communicable Disease Summit, held annually in the fall.
Knowledge gained from these data support public health initiatives, provide trends in influenza and ILI across the state and nation and help develop vaccine recommendations.
The public health importance of joining the ILINet program is that data and specimen submissions from ILINet providers are vital components of influenza surveillance in Delaware and nationally. Knowledge of the data supports public health initiatives (Influenza and ILI trends across the state and nation), and helps with vaccine recommendations.
For questions and/or concerns, please contact:
Abigail R. Jones, MPH, RDN, LDN
Trainer/Educator
302-744-4962
Lisandra Clarke
Delaware Flu Coordinator
302-744-4877