What’s it like to be on the frontlines of the Cyclosporiasis outbreak? : NPR

What it’s like on the on the frontlines of the public health investigation into cyclosporiasis, in Washtenaw County, Michigan, which just finished with a measles outbreak. Now it’s dealing about 50 confirmed cases/day of cyclosporiasis, all of which need to be extensively documented (contact tracers reach out to the patient or families go over with them weeks of remembering where they ate, their grocery lists, shopper cards, grocery store receipts, etc.). The county itself is having to patch together funding and staff to try to handle all of it. Funding issues: state gave the county money for the measles surge, but it only lasted a few weeks and the needs went on longer. During the measles surge, they had to pull staff off of other jobs, like doing immunizations, to deal with measles. Now the county has to keep those staff on crisis-mode to deal with cyclosporiasis. Kate Wells, KFF Health News. Editor: Carrie Feibel