Preparing for Emerging Infectious Diseases: Creating a Recipe for Success

This is part of a series about topics presented during APHL ID Lab Con 2025, a forum to discuss the latest developments on the detection and characterization of infectious diseases of public health concern.   

Think about following a recipe to cook your favorite dish. You gather all the ingredients and start cooking. But what if you forget a key step like not searing the meat or not adding baking soda to your batter? The final dish probably won’t turn out the way you expect—or worse, it could be inedible.

The same principle applies when responding to an emerging infectious disease. A successful response isn’t just about having the right resources or plans in place. It is about all the components—testing, contact tracing, quarantine measures, public awareness—working together at the right time. If even one piece is overlooked or not executed correctly, the entire effort may not work as intended, allowing the outbreak to spread.

In March, I had the opportunity to attend APHL’s ID Lab Con 2025, a conference that brings together infectious disease laboratory professionals. I learned about two important examples of how preparedness, collaboration and innovation helped combat emerging infectious diseases: the 2024 measles outbreak in Chicago and the Florida Bureau of Public Health Laboratories’ implementation of a diagnostic test for the Oropouche virus.

How preparedness made the difference

In early 2024, Chicago experienced an outbreak of measles, a highly contagious disease that can spread rapidly in communities with low vaccination rates. It’s particularly dangerous to babies and young children.

When health officials detected the outbreak, they didn’t waste any time. Thanks to a well-established rapid response team (RRT) that had been previously developed, Chicago was able to contain the situation quickly. Chicago’s public health officials were ready because they had planned and prepared for situations just like this. The team quickly identified at-risk populations, conducted targeted vaccination campaigns and implemented quarantine measures for exposed individuals, which prevented the outbreak from becoming much worse.

Similarly, public health officials in Florida were tackling a different challenge: the Oropouche virus, a rare vector-borne virus typically transmitted by the bite of a tiny fly called a midge and some mosquito species. The virus began appearing in travelers coming to Florida from parts of South America where it’s more common. Oropouche presents a unique challenge because its symptoms are very similar to those of other mosquito-borne diseases, such as Zika and dengue. This means that without the right tools to differentiate between them, Oropouche could easily go undiagnosed.

Florida’s Bureau of Public Health Laboratories, as part of the Florida Interagency Arbovirus Task Force (FIATF), recognized the need for an accurate diagnostic test for Oropouche. They worked closely with federal and state partners, including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to validate a laboratory-developed test for Oropouche. By collaborating across multiple levels of the health system, they were able to create a reliable diagnostic tool helping to ensure that any potential cases were quickly identified.

Collaboration and coordination: A model for public health preparedness

What really stuck with me from both the Chicago measles response and the Florida Oropouche test implementation was how important collaboration was to their success.

In Chicago, the coordination between the health department, the RRT and the community was critical in effectively containing the outbreak. In Florida, the partnership between the public health laboratory, FIATF, CDC and healthcare providers ensured the Oropouche test was validated and implemented successfully. These examples show how working together across different levels of public health agencies can significantly improve a response to emerging diseases.

Ensuring that labs are ready to process large volumes of tests, create strong, well-practiced response teams and coordinate efforts across all levels of public health will make all the difference in combating the next emerging infectious disease. In the world of public health, preparation and collaboration are key ingredients. Without them, we are cooking up disaster.