Alex Langmuir and CDC.

To the Editor: We were surprised and disappointed by the brevity of your article commemorating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Communicable Disease Center (CDC) (1). We realize that the accomplishments of the center and its derivative agencies are vast and that to give them full recognition would require far more space in Emerging Infectious Diseases than might be feasible. Nevertheless, your article that appropriately identified Joe Mountin as the administrative "father" of the center omitted any mention of Alex Langmuir, arguably the most influential of the infectious disease leaders over the years. Langmuir's creation and direction of the Epidemic Intelligence Service epitomized CDC's role in infectious diseases. His legacy deserves recognition in any chronicle of CDC, no matter how short.

Warren Winkelstein, Jr, * and Arthur L. Reingold *

* University of California School of Public Health, Berkeley, California, USA

Reference

(1.) Popovic T, Snider DE Jr. 60 years of progress--CDC and infectious diseases. Emerg Infect Dis. 2006;12:1160-1.

Address for correspondence: Warren Winkelstein, Jr, Professor of Epidemiology (Emeritus), University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA; email: [e-mail]

In response: We thank Drs. Winkelstein and Reingold for their comment regarding our article on the 60 years of CDC's progress in the area of infectious diseases. We certainly agree that Dr. Alexander Langmuir has made enormous contributions to this area, which we fully respect, We further agree that a more comprehensive approach would have required far more space than allotted for these types of commentaries. Allow us to emphasize that the omission of Dr. Langmuir and many other outstanding colleagues was not an oversight but an effort on our part to abbreviate an exceptionally long list of these deserving persons. We are looking forward to opportunities to provide a more comprehensive overview in which many of them will be appropriately recognized.

Tanja Popovic *

* Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Address for correspondence: Tanja Popovic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Mailstop D50, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA; email: [e-mail]