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So You Want To Be A Disease Detective?

Disease detective Dr. Barbara Knust suits up to investigate an Ebola outbreak in Uganda last month. Knust chatted on Twitter last Wednesday about her career tracking down outbreaks for the Centers of Disease and Prevention.
CDC/Facebook
Disease detective Dr. Barbara Knust suits up to investigate an Ebola outbreak in Uganda last month. Knust chatted on Twitter last Wednesday about her career tracking down outbreaks for the Centers of Disease and Prevention.

This summer has had its fair share of newsmaking disease outbreaks.

West Nile virus is on course to break records in the U.S. Hantavirus emerged in a Yosemite campground. And Ebola showed up twice in Africa. On Wednesday, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention even revealed details about an entirely new virus that sickened two men in Missouri.

During all these outbreaks, the "disease detectives" of the CDC were some of the first doctors on the scene to identify the pathogen and coordinate efforts to stop it.

Officially known as the Epidemic Intelligence Service, the unit is home to disease detectives who are the Sherlock Holmeses of medicine. They're a team of 160 physicians, scientists, and veterinarians, who are ready to fly around the world on a moment's notice to investigate a mysterious illness, manage the response to an established epidemic or contain a burgeoning outbreak.

As Shots reported last year, the disease detectives even made it to Hollywood when Kate Winslet played one in the film Contagion.

So what's it like to be a disease detective and how does one break into the business? Four former members of the EIS, who still work with the team, answered questions in a Twitter chat on Wednesday (#CDCChat). Here are some highlights from the conversation.

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Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Michaeleen Doucleff, PhD, is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk. For nearly a decade, she has been reporting for the radio and the web for NPR's global health outlet, Goats and Soda. Doucleff focuses on disease outbreaks, cross-cultural parenting, and women and children's health.

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