Pennsylvania has asked the federal government for emergency help containing the country's largest active measles outbreak, and it attached a condition. State Health Secretary Debra Bogen told the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that Pennsylvania will pull the request unless the agency publicly acknowledges the four measles-associated deaths the state has reported.
The letter, sent to CDC Director Erica Schwartz on Wednesday evening, was first reported by Reuters and confirmed by a Pennsylvania Department of Health spokesperson, who said the department began the formal process for requesting the assistance, known as an Epi-Aid. The move reverses the state's earlier position that it could manage the outbreak without federal epidemiologists.
