Star Advertiser U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff will arrive in South Carolina next week to help the state contain the largest measles outbreak in the country in decades years, a state official said in a briefing on Wednesday.
The first CDC on the ground assist comes some five months after the South Carolina outbreak began.
The state reported five additional measles cases so far this week as the outbreak neared 1,000 cases. But health officials said infections appear to be slowing, aided by a strong vaccination response in February, which is up 70% compared with the same month last year. Three CDC disease detectives from the agency’s Epidemic Intelligence Service are expected to help analyze data collected during the outbreak, said Dr. Linda Bell, South Carolina’s epidemiologist.