The number of rare, life-threatening brain abscesses in children more than tripled in Southern Nevada in 2022, triggering an investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which last week issued a report confirming the increase and calling for additional research to identify risk factors.
Doctors in other parts of the country similarly observed a spike in the number of cases in children since 2021, according to an NBC News report.
“In my 20 years’ experience, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Dr. Taryn Bragg told CNN. Bragg, an associate professor at the University of Utah, the only pediatric neurosurgeon in Nevada and the first to notice the spike, reported it to the CDC.