The CDC is sending a "small team" to Columbus, Ohio, to assist the region with investigating a measles outbreak that has now infected at least 24 children and hospitalized nine, according to CNN.
"As of today, we are investigating 24 cases of measles at nine day cares and two schools," Kelli Newman, a spokesperson for Columbus Public Health, told CNN in a Nov. 17 email. "All cases are in unvaccinated children, and all but one are less than 4 years old. One child is 6 years old."
A day earlier, there were 18 confirmed cases associated with seven day cares and one school. The health department in Franklin County, where Columbus is located, began the investigation on Nov. 9, when just four cases had been confirmed and the outbreak was confined to one child care facility.
The CDC confirmed that it is aware of the outbreak and is "deploying a small team" to assist with the investigation, according to CNN. Ms. Newman said the Columbus health department requested two CDC epidemiologists to assist. Contract tracing is underway and affected child care facilities are keeping all unvaccinated students out of the facility for 21 days after the latest case, Ms. Newman told CBS News Nov. 16.
In the summer, four other cases were confirmed in the county, though it's unclear whether there is any possible link to the current outbreak.