Details:

Personal Author:
Andrews, Justin M., 1902-
Corporate Authors:
Communicable Disease Center (U.S.)
Description:
Development of Communicable Disease Center by Justin M. Andrews. The office of Malaria Control in War Areas was established shortly after the Pearl Harbor episode as the result of negotiations between the War Department and the Federal Security Agency. Its program, developed initially under the direction of Dr. L. L. Williams, Jr., was a cooperative undertaking by the United States Public Health Service and various state health departments. In 1942 and 1943, the war emphasis was on mobilization, training, and production of military necessities. This involved mass migration of war workers and inductees, many of them to the South where the climate was favorable for year-round training but where malaria was or had been endemic. The introduction of large numbers of susceptible into areas where occasional gametocyte carriers still could be found, where effective anophelism and temperatures favorable for anopheline infection existed, created a potential malaria problem of national significance. The primary aim of MCWA during these two years was to prevent or reduce malaria transmission around Army, Navy, and essential war industry areas by extending the control operations carried on by military authorities within these reservations. This involved not only the utilization of appropriate anti-larval techniques, but the institution of community educational programs and the evaluation of control progress in terms of parasite prevalence and anopheline density. Environmental operations were commenced in 15 Southeastern States and Puerto Rico but were extended later to four more states, including some on the west coast, and the District of Columbia, the Territory of Hawaii, and British Jamaica. Specific insect control measures were aimed not only at anophelines but at the dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti and, in cooperation with the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, at the vicious dog fly on Florida beaches. With the inactivation in 1945 and 1946 of numerous military establishments in this country and the rapid demobilization of the armed forces, the MCWA extracontinental program of malaria control is being rapidly liquidated. After 1946, it will remain only in such areas as have been specially requested by the Army and where state and local health resources are inadequate to supply the services required. The extended program will be continued for one or two more years. Thus, the war-connected operations of MCWA are rapidly diminishing, as indeed they should. The basic organization, however, of physicians, engineers, and biologists skilled and experienced in the control of insect- and rodent-borne diseases remains and, in the opinion of many, should be continued (1) as a safeguard against a recurrence of that unfortunate state of affairs which prevailed in 1942, when this nation could not find enough competent malaria control teams to service the Army and Navy overseas and to protect the health 'of its civilians at home; (2) as a prevention against the establishment of exotic infections introduced into this country by returning veterans, occupational troops, or as a result of constantly increasing global air traffic; and (3) to combat certain endemic infections, notably murine typhus, sylvatic plague, and insect-borne virus infections, which are progressively infiltrating and entrenching themselves in new sections of the United States. The Communicable Disease Center of the United States Public Health Service was inaugurated officially on July 1, 1946, for the field investigation and control of communicable diseases. The Center, located in Atlanta, Ga., will continue certain training and investigation functions of the Office of Malaria Control in War Areas, which it replaces, and in addition will deal with a special phase of communicable disease prevention not now provided as federal services. Development of Communicable Disease Center -- Introduction: Malaria Control in War Areas -- Termination of war area program -- Communicable Disease Center -- Training and training aid production -- Epidemiologic and laboratory service -- Operational service -- -- Division notes -- Headquarters notes -- Field notes -- Book review -- Personnel and expenditure tables. Called also: Bulletin (Communicable Disease Center). Federal Security Agency, Public Health Service, Communicable Disease Center, Atlanta, Ga. 40 numbered pages
Subjects:
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CDC--history Communicable Disease Control/history History, 20th Century Malaria/prevention & Control Mosquito Control World War II
Document Type:
Journal Issue
Name as Subject:
Communicable Disease Center (U.S.) ; United States. Office of Malaria Control in War Areas. ; Communicable Disease Center (U.S.) ; United States. Office of Malaria Control in War Areas.
Communicable Disease Center (U.S.) ; United States. Office of Malaria Control in War Areas. ; Communicable Disease Center (U.S.) ; United States. Office of Malaria Control in War Areas. Less -
Place as Subject:
United States
Location:
North America
Collection(s):
David J. Sencer CDC Museum
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:ac1eceb5d41d7ee84a3b4d62cf1f39ce861acd24b12f4a4d113c984a0456417c
Download URL:
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/20796/cdc_20796_DS1.pdf
File Type:

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