Health news: Lack of technology hampers CDC investigation of cyclospora

(CBS News) NEW YORK -- An outbreak of cyclospora continues to spread. Cyclospora is a parasite that causes stomach illness. Four-hundred-sixty-seven cases have been reported in 16 states -- more than half in Iowa and Nebraska.

The cases in those two states were traced to tainted salad from Mexico, but the source in the other states has not been determined, because the researchers don't have the right tools. We spoke with the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

DR. JON LAPOOK: How do you know that the parasite that's in Iowa and Nebraska is the same that's in the other states?

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control

/ CBS News

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN: We don't know that all the parasites are the same. Unless we can really track it down and understand it better, we can't figure out where it's coming from, and we may not be able to prevent as well as we could otherwise.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control, says the technology to do that exists, but the agency doesn't have it. Frieden says the CDC needs equipment that would allow investigators to identify a microorganism's genetic makeup, or genome.

FRIEDEN: We need to get to the next generation of detective work. It used to take months to be able to sequence part of a microbe's genome. Now, a piece of equipment like this [holds up computer chip] can sequence a genome in hours. Outbreaks in hospitals of severely resistant organisms we might identify environmental sources, beds, cooling systems which have that microbe on it and were the source.

Staying safe from cyclospora outbreak

Watch: Laws may stop identification of cyclospora source, below.

The problem hampered the CDC's investigation of the cholera outbreak in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. The agency was forced to send its samples to Canada for testing.

FRIEDEN: We were able to sequence the genome, but to actually interpret it, we had to send it out of the country to be done, and I never want to have to do that again as CDC director.

LAPOOK: Potentially, what does the lack of this new technology mean in the future, say there was a more severe outbreak?

FRIEDEN: Not being able to analyze the genomic sequence of a microbe in real time is like trying to solve a crime without using fingerprints.

To fingerprint organisms using their genetic code, the CDC has requested $40 million from Congress for a combination of hardware and software.

Add a Comment See all 11 Comments by SaraNPh August 8, 2013 1:11 PM EDT His contention that it HAD to be sent out of the country is a bit silly.

There are universities and institutions all over the country that have the resources to do that work, including the NIH.

It is nice that Canada offered to help us out, on an international project, but I'm pretty sure that if they looked around they could have found a few server nodes and a computational biologist here to do it. It's not like no one in the US is doing sequencing. This is a lot of histrionics because you want to get a server and few computational biologists funded. Reply to this comment by Blabbertooth August 8, 2013 2:31 PM EDT Its not finding the source, its pointing a finger at the source. We are corrupted at all levels in the USA. The CDC guys don't want to bite the future hand that pays it.

by Blabbertooth August 8, 2013 10:44 AM EDT Not lack of technology but a giant conflict of interest has hampered the CDC. These government goons do their short stint and are rewarded with big overpaid jobs in the private corporate sector for not hammering and capturing criminal corporations. Reply to this comment by Blabbertooth August 8, 2013 10:54 AM EDT I would throw the FDA and SEC into the same kickback pot as the CDC. We are sad lot.

by N0enews August 8, 2013 10:32 AM EDT From first hand experience, the CDC is not the first to detect anything! Their policies often do not follow logic, and delay timely identification of deadly microorganisms! It fact, if it were not for the Air Force Epidemiology Laboratory at WPAFB, Ohio, sending the molecular id on hundreds of specimens from all over the world, the CDC would not have the info needed to make determination which strain of flu to make a vaccine for each year. The CDC takes credit for a lot they DONT DO! Reply to this comment by hvshields August 8, 2013 2:11 PM EDT Why are the FDA and CDC withholding the truth about the source of the cyclospora pathogen which is sickening hundreds of people across the US? The FDA AND CDC KNOW cyclospora originates in human feces and can be spread in sewage sludge biosolids used for crop "fertilizer" and reclaimed sewage effluent water used for crop "irrigation". The US EPA promotes the use of sludge biosolids and tainted irrigation water for farming to enable big cities and urban areas to dump their toxic, pathogenic wastes in Rural America "on the cheap" -and that is why the truth is being covered up.

Helane Shields, Alton, NH hshields@tds.net

by standardmathtables August 8, 2013 8:35 AM EDT Just transfer some of the excess travel funds from the IRS to the CDC. Problem solved. That's was a good manager would do. Reply to this comment by jsf14 August 8, 2013 6:31 AM EDT What country was the sample sent to? To a government lab there or to a private lab? What would it cost to have a US private lab do the work? What recourse would we have if the private lab raised the price? Reply to this comment by Blabbertooth August 7, 2013 8:27 PM EDT Yep, we are a bunch of lazy buffoons that have not bothered to keep up... Why should we, we would only hang some corporate place that will most likely be our next employer. We have no motivation. Just look the other way, that's us. Reply to this comment by Apacapacas1 August 7, 2013 11:51 PM EDT It's the budget cuts - the sequestration - that keeps the CDC underfunded so that it can't buy the technology it needs. Keeps police stations, fire houses, hospitals, schools, and other public services underfunded, too, but that's okay with the Republicans, as long as the rich get their tax cuts.

by Mathion August 7, 2013 11:55 PM EDT If you had one single, minuscule clue about what the hell you were talking about, you still wouldn't have made a damn bit of sense.

You should stick to posting about things that are consistent with your intellectual level - like debating the merits of the left turn in NASCAR.

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