A History of Success: Investigating and Responding to Public Health Threats Since 1951
Milestone Investigations
EIS has a 73-year history of success in training disease detectives. EIS officers step up at a moment’s notice to investigate public health threats in the United States and around the world. From the Smallpox Eradication Program in the 1960’s to the COVID-19 pandemic, EIS officers are called on to protect people and save lives.
1951
EIS Program Inception
1966
Smallpox Eradication Program
1976
Legionnaires Disease
1976
Ebola
Zaire1978
Aspirin use and Reye’s syndrome
1981
HIV/AIDS
first reported1988
Global Polio Eradication Initiative
1993
E.coli
Jack in the Box2001
Anthrax
U.S. Postal Service2003
SARS
2009
Influenza (H1N1) pandemic
2014
Ebola
West Africa2015
HIV/Hepatitis
Opiod-related outbreak2016
Zika
2018
Ebola
Democratic Republic of the Congo2019
EVALI outbreak
e-cigarete/vaping-associated lung injury2019
Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
A Snapshot of Public Health Achievements [2 MB, 10 Pages, 508] highlights milestone investigations that improved health, made a difference in thousands of lives, and effected change in communities and entire countries.
Worn out shoe leather with a prominent hole worn through has been a recurring visual theme of EIS through the decades, a reference to the practice of EIS officers personally investigating disease outbreaks at the local population level, in all parts of the world.