In the last two years, US CDC has sent scientists and doctors out more than 750 times to respond to health threats.
A new movie called Contagion is showing on screens nationwide. Although Contagion is a work of fiction, US CDC scientists were consulted for their help in making the movie as scientifically accurate as possible.
However, the film doesn’t provide a complete picture of the extensive role that state and local public health agencies would play in responding to a major disease pandemic. Over the last ten years, a major effort has been underway to strengthen the emergency response capabilities of state and local public health.
A quick overview of disease outbreak investigation is available from this Public Health Matters blog