SB2044 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 30685 CPF 57154 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
SB2044

Introduced 2/9/2023, by Sen. Sally J. Turner

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act

Creates the Tickborne Disease Prevention and Protection Act. Presents legislative findings. Requires the Department of Public Health, in conjunction with the medical entomology lab of the Prairie Research Institute's Illinois Natural History Survey and a statewide association representing physicians, to develop protocols and best practices for identifying, diagnosing, and treating tickborne diseases in Illinois and a mandatory accredited continuing medical education course that describes those protocols and best practices. Provides that the Department shall require health care professionals and laboratories to report cases of tickborne disease to each other and the Department. Directs the Department to train local health departments to respond to tickborne disease-related inquiries. Requires the Department to prepare a report of all efforts undertaken by the Department under the Act.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning health.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title.

(a) This Act may be cited as the Tickborne Disease Prevention and Protection Act.

(b) This Act may be referred to as the Gabby Galbo Tickborne Disease Prevention and Protection Law.

Section 5. Legislative findings. The General Assembly finds that:

(1) Tickborne diseases, including, but not limited to, Lyme disease, Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis, Ehrlichiosis, and anaplasmosis, afflict humans and other animals and are caused by infectious agents transmitted by tick bites.

(2) In the past decade, tickborne diseases have been reported more frequently in Illinois.

(3) Anyone participating in an outdoor activity, especially in an area with tall grasses, shrubs, low-hanging branches, or leaf mold, has a higher chance of contracting tick bites, but it is possible to encounter a tick bite anywhere.

(4) Tick bites can occur throughout the year, including during winter months.

(5) In 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Infectious Diseases determined that a course of treatment with doxycycline is safe to prescribe to young children with any infection responsive to it, specifically including early tickborne diseases.

Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:

"Tickborne disease" means any disease carried or caused by a tick.

"Department" means the Department of Public Health.

Section 15. Tickborne disease; protocols and best practices.

(a) The Department, in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, the medical entomology lab of the Prairie Research Institute's Illinois Natural History Survey, and a statewide association representing physicians, shall develop mandatory protocols and best practices for identifying, diagnosing, and treating tickborne diseases in Illinois. The Department shall study the diseases carried by ticks in Illinois and the number of people infected by ticks in Illinois to provide data to the public on the incidence of tickborne disease and locations of exposure in Illinois, by county. The Department shall require local health departments, health care professionals, and laboratories to report to each other and the Department, within the period specified in the Control of Communicable Diseases Code for reporting to local health departments, each case of a tickborne disease in the local health department in whose jurisdiction the case is reported. The Department shall also train local health departments to respond to tickborne disease-related inquiries from the public.

(b) To raise awareness about and promote the prevention of tickborne disease, the protocols and best practices developed by the Department under subsection (a):

(1) shall be published on a designated and publicly accessible webpage, shall include up-to-date information about the prevention, detection, and treatment of all tickborne disease, and shall illustrate the prevalence of tickborne disease using historical mapping;

(2) shall reference peer-reviewed scientific research articles;

(3) shall incorporate guidance and recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's National Guideline Clearinghouse, and any other persons or entities determined by the Department to have particular expertise in tickborne disease; and

(4) shall be distributed to physicians, other health care professionals and providers, and persons subject to an increased risk of contracting tickborne disease.

(c) The Department shall prepare a report of all efforts undertaken by the Department under this Act. The report shall be posted on the Department's website and distributed to local health departments and to any other facilities as determined by the Department.

Section 20. Mandatory continuing medical education training; tickborne disease. The Department, in conjunction with the medical entomology lab of the Prairie Research Institute's Illinois Natural History Survey and a statewide association representing physicians, shall develop a mandatory accredited continuing medical education course that describes the protocols and best practices for identifying, diagnosing, and treating tickborne diseases in Illinois.