Stacie Neff, a.k.a The Vector Victor

Stacie Neff is an epidemiologist (EP-e-DEE-me-AH-Lah-jist) in the Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Fort Collins, Colorado. Stacie always knew that one day she’d work for the CDC. “I’ve been fascinated by the CDC all of my life, and I can’t believe I actually work here! It’s like being a real life disease detective.” Stacie does everything from investigating West Nile virus outbreaks, to creating plans to defend against bio-terrorism.

Epidemiology: The facts
If you like mysteries, you’ll love epidemiology! Like crime scene investigators, epidemiologists begin their case crackin’ by looking for clues. They gather information about what happened—Who is sick? What are their symptoms (signs that show someone is not feeling well—headache, sore throat)? When did they get sick? Where could they have been exposed to the disease? Investigators then study the answers to these questions to find out what led to a particular health problem. Then, they use what they have learned to prevent others from getting sick.

These real life disease detectives work in many different places—some work in laboratories where they look for viruses or bacteria in blood samples, others work in cities or towns where there are diseases, and some interview people who are sick and then try to figure out how and why they got infected.

Stacie studies epidemics (unusual outbreaks of diseases). Although trackin’ down diseases and crackin’ the case are the most exciting parts of Stacie’s job, she says that one of the most important things she does is collect background information on diseases from all across the county. These facts give the disease detectives what they need to know to figure out if an outbreak or epidemic is really happening or not, and how serious it is.

Have you ever been called in to investigate an outbreak? Yes. One summer, Stacie was part of a team from the CDC that went to Slidell, Louisiana to investigate an outbreak of the West Nile virus. Stacie and her team were invited by the Louisiana state health department to conduct a study in local hospitals and health centers to learn more about West Nile. They also hoped to crack the case of West Nile fever. The question they needed to answer: Of those people who were carrying West Nile virus, how many actually got West Nile fever? Stacie and her teammates were on call around the clock, and sometimes had to go into the hospital in the middle of the night to examine the patients! They collected blood samples to learn more about the West Nile virus, traced how long it stays in the patient’s body, and to find out how many people were actually sick with West Nile fever. Stacie and her teammates are still hard at work examining the information they gathered from 196 patients.

Stacie’s detective work didn’t stop there—she was also assigned to an outbreak case in Vernal, Utah at Dinosaur National Monument where lots of student workers were sick. Stacie made a detour on her way to visit her family for a camping trip, and stopped in Utah to investigate. After spending a few days researching and examining the students, it turned out that a fungus called Valley Fever had made its way further north than it ever had before. Another case solved.

What’s a vector? Stacie says that vectors are usually arthropods (animals with jointed arms and legs, a body with many sections and it’s skeleton on the outside) like ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, and other creepy crawlers. They can carry diseases from one person or animal to another—sometimes without even getting infected.

One of Stacie’s biggest projects at the CDC is monitoring Lyme disease—which is carried by ticks. She says it’s an interesting trail to follow. Ticks pick up Lyme disease from mice (who don’t even get sick from the disease!), lay their eggs and travel around on deer, and sometimes end up on humans who can get sick if bitten. Stacie says that ticks need to be attached to a human for 1-2 days to infect them, so follow the CDC’s Tick Tactics to keep ticks away while you’re outside in areas where ticks live.

What do you like most about being a real life disease detective? Stacie says that the best thing about her job (besides the Colorado scenery) is that she gets to do so many different things. “One day I may work on a big project surveying diseases on a national level, and the next I might be across the country somewhere working 16 hour days on a disease outbreak. Getting to do both is so cool!”

Check this out

• Read about the Global Health Odyssey, CDC.