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@CDCgov vaping investigations seemed off to me as an #Epi & now we see why: 1. They required new systems to access vape carts ...3-D printers manufactured custom parts so vape carts "could be fit into smoking machines to “puff” devices to test aerosols" https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/11/25/searching-killer-inside-cdcs-scramble-solve-mysterious-vaping-disease/ 1/
2. There was a #data collection issue: "Among the earliest challenges was gathering data...the agency relied on a scaled-down version of a system used to track food-borne outbreaks" (this needs to be addressed &fixed bc as tech advances data so should data collection methods!) 2/
3. There was a #dataharmonization issue - one that we are seeing more of in #publicHealth. "...Information from states was arriving in different formats making it hard to quickly analyze the national picture." Harmonization will remove slight differences in survey questions! 3/
4. There were struggles with chemical testing: "Developing reliable &accurate tests took time - about 3wks- scientists wanted to ensure their methods were sensitive enough to detect a wide array of substances...process involved more than 1,000 measurements to rule out plant oils"
5. Then their Mass Spec crashed! "a software failure crashed the chemical analysis tool, called a mass spectrometer" 
6. And The investigation is still far from complete! "Federal health officials have said the outbreak may have more than one cause...It’s possible the harmful thing doesn’t even get produced until fluid is vaped" 5/
7. This is all to say that #publichealth science is HARD. This investigation was unique but it won't be the last tricky multi disciplinary investigation #publichealth will face! Let's just hope #SciComm will be more front and center next time? I can only hope...
