Outbreaks
An outbreak of infections occurs when a group of people develop the same illness after a common exposure. We investigate outbreaks to identify the illness and the exposure, to control the outbreak and to learn how to prevent future similar outbreaks.
Most outbreaks are investigated by local or state health department epidemiologists. We provide emergency support for state health departments and the World Health Organization (WHO).
In FY2004, we conducted ten emergency outbreak field investigations and consulted on many more. We conducted two major investigations of Roma tomato-associated salmonellosis tracked to Florida that stimulated new research into how such contamination might occur. A large outbreak of Campylobacter infections from a resort island in Ohio stimulated revision of the local water supply and discussion about the safety of "private" water sources used by the public.
We investigated a major outbreak of multiple-resistant (resistant to more than one antibiotic) salmonellosis in the Northeast, which is stimulating additional regulatory and industry dialogue about how to make our ground beef safer. We investigated an epidemic of cholera in Zambia, showing that fresh produce from the flooded market was the main source; this investigation is the poster child of the WHO "Healthy Market" initiative.
We also led the CDC response to the Tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia, and participated in the disaster response to hurricane flooding in Haiti, using the CDC Safe Water System in both disasters.
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Page last modified: September 07, 2007
Page last reviewed: September 07, 2007