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When to get help

These are general warning signs, not advice about any particular condition. If you are not sure, err upward — it is always reasonable to be checked.

  1. 1Right nowCall 911

    Any one of these

    • is struggling to breathe, gasping, choking, or cannot get words out
    • has chest pain, tightness or pressure lasting more than a few minutes
    • has sudden weakness or drooping on one side of the face or body, slurred speech, or sudden confusion
    • is unconscious, or cannot be woken
    • is bleeding heavily and it will not stop with firm pressure
    • has had a seizure that will not stop, or does not wake up afterwards
    • has lips or skin that look pale, blue, grey or blotchy
    • you believe has taken an overdose or swallowed something poisonous
  2. 2TodayBe seen

    Any one of these

    • has a fever with a stiff neck, a rash that does not fade under pressure, or severe headache
    • is getting rapidly more short of breath, or has gained several pounds in a few days with swelling
    • has abdominal pain that is severe, constant, or getting worse
    • is vomiting and cannot keep fluids down
    • has a wound that is hot, spreading red, or leaking pus
    • has a new severe headache unlike any they have had before
  3. 3This weekBook an appointment

    Any one of these

    • is more tired or breathless than usual doing things they used to manage
    • has a symptom that has lasted more than a couple of weeks without improving
    • has noticed a lump, a mole that has changed, or unexplained weight loss
    • is having side effects from a medicine, or is struggling to take it as prescribed

Warning signs for a particular condition

Go through one condition’s warning signs, one question at a time.

If you are not sure

Trust the change rather than the number. Someone who is behaving unusually — confused, unable to speak in full sentences, unable to stay awake, or simply not themselves — needs to be seen, whatever their temperature or blood pressure reads.

Nothing on this page replaces a clinician who can examine the person in front of them. Read the full disclaimer.

For poisoning, a mental health crisis, or a safety concern, see who to call.

Who to call

Life-threatening emergency

  • 911
    Emergency services

    Anyone struggling to breathe, with chest pain, unresponsive, bleeding heavily, or having a stroke or a seizure that will not stop.

  • 1-800-222-1222
    Poison Help

    Any swallowed, inhaled, splashed or injected substance — medicines, cleaning products, plants, carbon monoxide, a child who has eaten something. Free, confidential, 24 hours, interpretation in 161 languages.

    This is one national number. It routes your call to the poison centre that covers where you are calling from, so there is no separate number to look up for your state.

Mental health and crisis

Safety

Reporting an infectious disease

Reporting a notifiable disease — rabies exposure, HIV, tuberculosis, measles, and about 120 others — is a legal duty of the diagnosing clinician or laboratory, not of the patient. Reports go to your state or local health department, and the state reports onward to CDC. Which diseases are reportable is set by state law, so the list is not the same everywhere.

If you are a patient or a carer

You do not need to report anything. Tell the clinician treating you what you were exposed to and when — they make the report. For a possible rabies exposure, an animal bite or scratch or a bat in the room, wash the wound with soap and running water for 15 minutes and seek care the same day; your health department decides whether you need the vaccine and arranges it.

Find your state health department →

If you are a clinician or a laboratory

Report to your state or local health department, not to CDC — states hold the reporting law and pass cases upward. Timeframes vary from immediately by telephone for the most serious to within a few days for the rest.

Directory of state health departments →

Suspected high-consequence pathogen

Smallpox, a viral haemorrhagic fever, anthrax or another agent needing an immediate national response: telephone your state health department and CDC at the same time. The CDC Emergency Operations Center answers around the clock and will put you through to the relevant specialist.

770-488-7100CDC Emergency Operations Center →

General questions

For questions about a disease, a vaccine or travel that are not urgent and not a report.

1-800-232-4636CDC-INFO →

Things your state health department handles

Some things are decided where you live rather than nationally. Your state or local health department is the right call for these.

  • Rabies exposure — an animal bite or scratch, or a bat in the room. Wash the wound with soap and water for 15 minutes and seek medical care the same day; your health department advises on whether you need the vaccine and where to get it.
  • Reporting an infectious disease, or asking whether you need to be tested after an exposure
  • Getting a copy of your own or your child's immunisation record
  • Local outbreak information, water quality and food safety
Find your state health department

CDC directory of state and territorial health departments

Every number was checked against the operating organisation on 2026-08-02. If one has changed, tell us — a wrong number on this page is worse than no page.

Cite this page

NLM

sofidex [Internet]. Daloreum; c2026. Emergencies & Reporting; [reviewed 2026 Aug 2; cited 2026 Nov 10]. Available from: https://sofidex.com/patients/emergencies

APA 7th

sofidex. (2026, August 2). Emergencies & Reporting. Daloreum. Retrieved November 10, 2026, from https://sofidex.com/patients/emergencies

AMA 11th

Emergencies & Reporting. sofidex. Reviewed August 2, 2026. Accessed November 10, 2026. https://sofidex.com/patients/emergencies

The cited date is today’s, because a citation records when you read the page. The reviewed date is when a clinician last checked it.