Officials in Columbus, Ohio, asked for assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) amid a measles outbreak, CNN reported Thursday.
Columbus Public Health spokesperson Kelli Newman told CNN that local officials “asked the CDC for assistance and they will be sending two epidemiologists at the end of the month to assist with our local investigation.”
“As of today, we are investigating 24 cases of measles at nine day cares and two schools,” Newman continued, before adding the entirety of the “cases are in unvaccinated children, and all but one are less than 4 years old. One child is 6 years old.”
Contact tracing, along with an investigation into the known measles cases, remains ongoing, with Columbus Public Health and Franklin County Public Health officials contributing to the effort, according to CNN.
Now at 24 #measles cases today in Columbus OH as local public health requests assistance from the CDC. https://t.co/Y5ADM8Y65q
— Dr. Tara C. Smith (@aetiology) November 17, 2022
The outbreak has reportedly been growing since early November. Columbus Public Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts said officials “are working diligently with the cases to identify any potential exposures and to notify people who were exposed,” according to a Nov. 9 press release from the city of Columbus.
“Anyone who may have been exposed should follow up with their healthcare provider,” Kristen Nordlund, a CDC spokesperson, told CNN. A small team from the CDC is in the process of deploying to Ohio, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Biden’s CDC Awarded Millions To Soros-Funded Nonprofit Suing DeSantis Over Martha’s Vineyard Flights)
Individuals can best protect themselves against measles with two doses of a measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, according to the CDC. Measles is highly contagious and around one out of five people diagnosed with the disease are hospitalized, the CDC’s official website states.
Earlier in November the CDC said it had identified the source of a deadly listeria outbreak that spread across six U.S. states. The agency declared a public health emergency over monkeypox in August and released data in September suggesting sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases are continuing to increase in prevalence across the U.S.