Disease detectives with the CDC are investigating a cluster of rare and serious brain abscesses in kids in and around Las Vegas, and doctors from other parts of the country say they may be seeing a rise in cases, too.
In 2022, the number of brain abscesses in kids tripled in Nevada, rising from an average of four to five a year to 18.
After a presentation on the Nevada cases the Epidemic Intelligence Service Conference on Thursday, doctors from other parts of the country said they are seeing similar increases in brain abscesses in kids. Dr. Jessica Penney is the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, or "disease detective," assigned to Southern Nevada Health District, the health department that investigated the cases. She presentedof the Clark County cluster at the CDC's annual Epidemic Intelligence Service conference on Thursday.
From 2015 to 2020, Penney says the number of cases of brain abscesses in Clark County was pretty stable at around four a year. In 2020, the number of brain abscesses in kids dipped, probably because of measures like social distancing, school closures, and masking — things that shut down the spread of all kinds of respiratory infections, not just COVID-19. In 2021, as restrictions began to lift, the number of these events returned back to normal levels, and then in 2022, a big spike.
Last year, the CDC worked with the Children's Hospital Association to find and count brain abscesses in kids, to see if there was any sort of national spike. Data collected through May 2022 did not detect any kind of widespread increase, according toBut Bragg thinks the data cutoff for the study may have been too early. She says spring 2022 was when she saw cases in her area really take off.
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