Illinois is among the top 13 states seeing a rise in alpha-gal syndrome cases caused by a bite from the lone star tick, with residents living in southern Illinois at the highest risk.

An Illinois resident suspected of having hantavirus last week was found to not have hantavirus following additional testing, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced.

About 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year — about 14% fewer than the previous year, according to preliminary government data.

The Illinois Department of Public Health is investigating a potential hantavirus case in an Illinois resident that is not linked to the deadly cruise ship outbreak, the health department announced Tuesday.

At least 34 people in 13 states — including Illinois — have been sickened with salmonella poisoning traced to contact with backyard poultry, federal health officials said. Backyard poultry include birds like chicken, ducks, geese, guinea fowl and turkeys.

U.S. District Judge Manish Shah signed off on the restraining order Thursday in a lawsuit brought by attorneys general from four states including Kwame Raoul that sought to prevent the cuts.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Monday it is no longer recommending that all children receive vaccines against: RSV, flu, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, meningococcal disease and rotavirus. Instead, the federal government now only recommends protection against these diseases for certain children at high risk.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will recommend fewer vaccines for most American children, health officials said Monday.

Flu activity in suburban Cook County jumped from “low” to “high” during the week ending in Dec. 20, according to health officials. Chicago’s public health department reported “high” levels of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for flu late last week.

Illinois health officials are maintaining their stance that all newborns should receive a hepatitis B vaccination, days after federal vaccine advisors voted to remove a similar recommendation.

For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses.

An advisory committee overseen by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine advisory board will meet Thursday to discuss the medical guidance of the hepatitis B vaccine, which is currently given at birth.

The bill signing comes ahead of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee meeting later this week for an expected vote on potential changes to the childhood vaccination schedule and how hepatitis B shots are administered.

The change is the latest move by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to revisit — and foster uncertainty about — long-held scientific consensus about the safety of vaccines and other pharmaceutical products.

The formation of the group touches off a new chapter in a partisan battle over public health measures that has been heightened by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s advisers declining to recommend COVID-19 vaccinations.

Before this year, U.S. health officials — following recommendations by infectious disease experts — recommended annual COVID-19 boosters for all Americans ages 6 months and older.