Published September 1976 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Disease Fighters at Work A cholera outbreak in Nicaragua, an anthrax epidemic in Haiti, cases of histoplasmosis in Ohio-all are recent examples of dangerous diseases which have been diagnosed and treated by teams of American health specialists whose job it is to prevent a local threat from turning into a worldwide epidemic. Assigned to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, the epidemiologists, or disease control specialists, travel all over the world and have been credited with saving thousands of lives by their swift action. The Center traces its roots back to the old World War II "Malaria Control in War Areas Program," that was started in Atlanta in 1942. Over the years, the name changed several times, and various health preventive programs were consolidated, unti1 the present-day Center was established in 1970. The Center has grown into a complex of laboratories and technical facilities that include sophisticated communications links to world-wide agencies such as the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization. Recognized around the world as having the finest in resources, training, and experience, the Center maintains ready teams of epidemiologists on 24- hour alert to fly any place in the world to investigate and isolate dangerous diseases. Oftentimes they are the first medical people at the site of an epidemic outbreak. They are quick to respond because, in this age of jet travel, any disease or epidemic in any part of the world - no matter how remote - is only hours away from America's shores. Even though it is active abroad, the Center's main work is done at home. With field stations in West Virginia and many other states, it coordinates with state and regional health departments on local problems, and oversees several domestic programs, such as occupational health and safety, urban rat control, and black lung. The Center for Disease Control has been in the news recently as a result of the "legionnaires disease" and the national program to inoculate against a possible swine flu epidemic which poses a danger to Americans. Sep 15 1976