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 communicable disease n. A disease that is transmitted through direct contact with an infected individual or indirectly through a vector. Also called contagious disease. Center (CDC See Control Data, century date change and Back Orifice. CDC - Control Data Corporation ) (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 Infectious disease A pathological condition spread among biological species. Infectious diseases, although varied in their effects, are always associated with viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites and aberrant proteins known as prions. leaders over the years. Langmuir's creation and direction of the Epidemic Intelligence Service The Epidemic Intelligence Service is a program of the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Established in 1951 due to biological warfare concerns arising from the Korean War, it has become a hands-on two-year postgraduate training program in epidemiology, with 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 The University of California has a combined student body of more than 191,000 students, over 1,340,000 living alumni, and a combined systemwide and campus endowment of just over $7.3 billion (8th largest in the United States). 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 The University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. Commonly referred to as UC Berkeley, Berkeley and Cal , Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA; email: winkelstein@yahoo.com 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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. , Atlanta, Georgia, USA Address for correspondence: Tanja Popovic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd, Mailstop D50, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA; email: txpl@cdc.gov |
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