Government shutdown impacting the CDC

NEW YORK (WABC) -- On day eight of the budget shutdown there's a new kind fallout from choking funds from programs that help Americans.

Turns out, the Centers for Disease Control, now has an acute shortage of workers and that could affect your health from food contamination to tracking the flu.

In March, the government's so-called sequester cut monies to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

The new shutdown means that tracking and reacting to disease emergencies has been cut even more. The CDC is coping with only a third of its normal staff.

You can see the problem right on the CDC's website. A big banner reads in part, "due to a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date". The CDC is boxing, but it's wearing handcuffs.

"There are things that shouldn't be shut down, and this is one of them," a citizen said.

"For older people and babies, of course I'm worried," another concerned citizen said.

Flu surveillance takes the first hit. Though there is plenty of vaccine available according to the agency, weekly national numbers on flu severity and spread of the disease will be gone. If a new virus strain pops up, the CDC has no staff to profile the germ's resistance to anti-viral drugs.

"In order to deal with a multistate outbreak, it requires a national response and the CDC is at the heart of that," said Dr. Stephen Morse, of the Mailman School of Public Health.

There will be no more shifting of vaccine nationally to outbreak areas, and in the worst case, no new virus awareness to make vaccines for next year.

It's not just flu. Protecting all these people from food borne illness, e-coli in beef, salmonella in chicken, is what the CDC does.

Dr. Thomas Freidan, head of the CDC said there's a salmonella outbreak on the west coast, and he has emergency powers to bring in more workers, if needed to protect the public's health. New York has a strong local public health system, but other cities and states often need help.

"If a state department or other needs help, if they need expertise, they turn to CDC, it probably won't be available now," Dr. Morse said.

Dr. Freidan added that even when the shutdown ends, it will take weeks for the CDC to get back up to speed.

In the meantime, the agency says to wash your hands a lot, and get the flu shot.

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health news, dr. jay adlersberg

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