New Mexico's Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet)
What is ILINet?
The New Mexico Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Program (ILINet) is a collaborative effort between healthcare providers, the New Mexico Department of Health (NMHealth), and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Data reported by ILINet providers, in combination with other influenza surveillance data, provide a picture of influenza virus and ILI activity in the U. S. and New Mexico.
ILINet contributes crucial data for monitoring the course of influenza virus activity on the local, state and national level. ILINet data, in combination with other surveillance data, can be used to guide prevention and control activities, vaccine strain selection, and patient care. ILINet data are summarized and reported along with other influenza surveillance mechanisms on the Viral Respiratory Infection Dashboard.
What data do ILINet providers collect?
NMHealth uses the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) to identify the number of patient visits each week and the number of patient visits for ILI by age group (0-4 years, 5-24 years, 25-49 years, 50-64 years, and 65+ years) for each participating emergency department year-round.
Case definition for Influenza-like Illness (ILI):
- Fever (>100°F or >37.8°C) AND
- Cough and/or sore throat (regardless of any other diagnostic test result)
What types of facilities participate in ILINet?
NMHealth is currently only using electronic discharge data from Emergency Departments in the state.