CDC Puzzled By High Concentrations of Herpes Outbreaks March 12 - April 9

The Center for Disease Control has recently undertaken an investigation into an alarming explosion of the diagnosis of genital herpes in multiple U.S. Cities starting March 12, 2009 and ending on the week of April 9th, 2009. The outbreaks, which started in San Diego, followed an unidentifiable pattern that has left many scientists baffled. The following is chart shows the first date of the increased diagnoses, the city, and the percentage above the normal amount of cases.

March 12 – San Diego, CA - +200% in Herpes Diagnoses
March 13 – Los Angeles - +212%
March 14 – San Francisco - +1142%
March 16 – Seattle, WA - +546%
March 17 – Portland, OR - +234%
March 18 – Vancouver, BC - +194%
March 21 – Denver, CO - +251%
March 23 – Minneapolis, MN - +200%
March 24 – Chicago, IL - +295%
March 25 – Pontiac, MI - +234%
March 26 – Toronto, ON - +634%
March 27 – Ottawa, ON - +333%
March 28 – Montreal, QC - +225%
March 30 – Boston, MA - +231%
March 31 – New York, NY - +251%
April 1 – Philadelphia, PA - +836%
April 2 – Washington, DC - +5342
April 3 – Richmond, VA - +236%
April 6 – Orlando, FL - +1135%
April 7 – Tampa, FL - +234%
April 8 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL - +234%
April 9 – Atlanta, GA - +234%

Following the week of April 9th, the CDC reported no incidences of increased herpes cases in any city. So far there have been no hypothesis on what caused the outbreak. CDC press correspondent Alfred Stein spoke with RS online yesterday. "So far these herpes outbreaks were contained within these selected cities and we believe that the increased number of incidences will not continue within the previously infected cities or any new cities. As of now it is suffice to say these were isolated incidents and the public need not fear any more outbreaks." Asked if the CDC has any leads, Stein assured RSonline that "[The CDC] has looked at all available data and has been analyzing any possible leads for months now. However, we have come up empty on any correlations. Therefore we here at the CDC have determined that this was just a fluke occurrence, and absolutely nothing else."