LETTER: Sad day for the CDC
As a retired clinical microbiologist with 40-plus years of experience, I am dismayed and angered by what is happening to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Physicians, infectious disease specialists, epidemiologists, and other health care professionals depend on the CDC guidelines to control, monitor, and prevent disease. The CDC is the “go-to” source for clinical microbiologists.
The CDC was present in 1976 for a new pneumonia outbreak after a convention in Philadelphia. The CDC guided us through the outbreak with research and data gathering to finally isolate, identify, and treat what became known as Legionaire’s pneumoniae.
The CDC guided us through the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and what skin parasites to be on the lookout for on military personnel returning from the Gulf War.
The CDC kept us current on emerging diseases like Ebola.
I had the privilege of attending a class at the CDC which was taught by one of the best parasitologist in the U.S.
The recommendations published by the CDC are “best practices” developed and written by dedicated scientists working in our best interest. The CDC is now being forced to alter findings and recommendations for political purposes and putting we, the public, at risk.
It is a sad day for the CDC and for the public during this pandemic.
Linda Reese
Washington