CDC is sending a ‘disease detective’ to help stop deadly measles outbreak in Pennsylvania

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending one of its scientists to Pennsylvania to help curb the state’s growing measles outbreak, a CDC spokesperson said Thursday. That person, a “disease detective” within the agency’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, is scheduled to arrive later this week.

It’s the CDC’s first in-person assistance to the state after a social media feud in August between Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. The two traded jabs following a press briefing where Shapiro announced that two unvaccinated people had died of measles complications and accused Kennedy of spreading vaccine misinformation.

“I made very clear that his actions and the rhetoric that’s coming from this administration are having a negative impact on communities across America, particularly right here in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said during the briefing.

Kennedy then suggested that the deaths may have been “fabricated,” and that Shapiro was seeking to profit from them politically.

Since August, six people diagnosed with measles have died in Pennsylvania, according to health officials and county coroners. The CDC has acknowledged two of the deaths on its measles outbreak website, saying the other measles-related deaths in Pennsylvania are “under review.”

“CDC will continue working…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health