Health officials in Illinois turned to an AI chatbot to try to solve a puzzling outbreak linked to a county fair. But whether it was actually helpful or not remains unclear.

According to a report this week in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, officials in Brown County got the first hint of an outbreak from the county sheriff, who noted on August 5, 2024 that a remarkable number of potential jurors for an upcoming trial said they had a stomach bug. Then, on August 12, the state health department notified the county of a case of Salmonella enterica serotype Agbeni.

With those two tips, county health officials opened an investigation and were able to identify 13 cases—seven laboratory-confirmed cases of S. enterica Agbeni and six probable cases that were in close contact with confirmed cases. The cases spanned five counties, but they all had one thing in common: everyone had gone to the Brown County fair.

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Origianl Creator:
Beth Mole

Original Link: https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/02/did-chatgpt-help-health-officials-solve-a-weird-outbreak-maybe/
Originally Posted: Sat, 28 Feb 2026 18:17:12 +0000