Behind the scenes of the CDC’s vaping probe

Disease detectives, more accustomed to stopping food-borne illnesses or tracking the annual influenza cycle, realized that they’d need a unique approach to take on a health crisis that has so far sickened 1,604 and killed 34. “I think it’s pulling on everyone’s heartstrings,” says Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, during an interview in Atlanta, “because many of the individuals are previously healthy. A lot of them are young. Half of them are under 25 years old and some of them are dying.”