Who You Gonna Call? Bugbusters!

Ghostbusters was one of my favorite movies during the 1980's. Those daring and eccentric ghost hunters went all over the city rounding up ghosts with their unlicensed and potentially world-ending ghost capturing proton packs. Their motto, "We ain't afraid o' no ghost", was a common saying during most of the 1980's. Those ghostbusters were available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. No ghost was too tough for those guys. The only real problem they had was from government officials who forced their containment facility to be shutdown. What a disaster!

Have you ever wondered what happens when a new disease strikes in our world. Who goes to ensure the possible epidemic does not spread? Who finds the causes and how these diseases are spread? Who helps to make our world safe from deadly new and old diseases?

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) employ a number of people I call the Bugbusters. They are an elite corps of health officers at the CDC that make up the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS). These physicians, veterinarians, and other health scientists investigate disease outbreaks as well as health crises arising from environmental hazards or natural disasters such as hurricanes or forest fires. They also tackle the modern epidemics of cigarette smoking, obesity, physical inactivity, and intentional and unintentional injuries. Their job is to protect the health of the citizens of the United States. The EIS is now in its 49th year.

Late last August (2000) they brought in a new group of 73 health scientists. The EIS Officers are on duty 24 hours a day. Most of their investigations are for health problems in the United States. Recent ones include West Nile Virus in New York City, heat-related deaths in Chicago and Cincinnati, and severe malnutrition of children due to inappropriate use of milk substitutes in Georgia. However, many include epidemics abroad where U.S. assistance is requested such as the Nipah Virus outbreak in Malaysia and the deadly Ebola epidemics in Africa.

"CDC's disease detectives are on the front line protecting our Nation's health and safety," said CDC director and former EIS officer, Dr. Jeffrey P. Koplan. "They are ready at a moment's notice to get on an airplane and sacrifice their own health and safety to control some of the globe's most challenging health issues."

The group of 28 men and 45 women carry impeccable credentials from leading universities across the nation and around the world. Nineteen EIS Officers will report to field assignments in city and state health departments; 54 will remain with CDC in various programs in and outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Eleven of the officers are from other countries. The two-year

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