Investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be going door-to-door in Rogers Park this week in an attempt to better understand how the H1N1 swine influenza virus spread in Chicago. Because some of the earliest swine flu cases in the nation were identified in Rogers Park, the CDC has focused a large part of their investigation in this area of the city.
The CDC will be knocking on doors asking residents about recent respiratory illnesses (cough, sore throat and fever) they or someone in their household may have experienced. If a member of the household was ill recently, he or she will be asked to volunteer for a nasopharyngeal (nose/throat) swab to test for the virus.
Interviews and specimen collection are completely voluntary. The CDC investigators are working in teams and will present photo IDs when they are at the door. The investigators will be conducting their door-to-door surveys every day from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m., starting today (Monday, May 11th) and ending next Monday, May 18th.
The CDC will concentrate their survey in the area bounded by Touhy Avenue on the north, Devon Avenue on the south, Lake Michigan on the east, and Ridge Boulevard on the west.
Through this investigation, the CDC hopes to garner more information about how flu viruses are spread in our community. This information will be important for future decision making if the swine flu virus or other new viruses emerge next fall or winter.
If you have any questions about the survey, please call Alderman Joe Moore's office at 773-338-5796, and my staff will put you in touch with the appropriate officials in the City of Chicago Department of Public Health, who are working with the CDC on this investigation.