B12 - Policy - after epi

Epidemiology Matters:
CDC Keeps America Healthy, Safe, and Secure
CDC’s epidemiologists do life-saving work to
investigate, prevent, and stop dangerous diseases.
They collect and study data in order to find the
causes of disease outbreaks. This helps CDC prevent
or respond to future threats to Americans’ health.

Case Study:
Fort Leonard Wood
In February 2009, CDC epidemiologists investigated
a disease outbreak that led to 2 fatalities at the Fort
Leonard Wood (FLW) Army training center in Missouri.
After visiting the training center and interviewing
trainees and staff, CDC investigators were able to
identify the cause of the outbreak. They also helped
trainees and staff take steps to prevent further cases
of the infection.

What happened at Fort Leonard Wood?
When 2 previously healthy Army trainees
contracted pneumococcal meningitis and died,
CDC epidemiologists went to work. Pneumococcal
meningitis (“noom-uh-KA-kuhl MEN-in-JIE-tis”) is an
infection that causes swelling and inflammation of
the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

Disease Detectives
Epidemiology is the study of the origin
and causes of diseases in a community.
CDC’s disease detectives — scientists,
statisticians, health care providers, and
public health professionals — use this
scientific method to investigate health
problems and disease outbreaks.

How did CDC investigate the outbreak?
CDC’s epidemiologists begin their research by
gathering facts about the community where the
outbreak is happening. In this case, it was the
Alpha Company of the 554th Battalion at FLW.

National Center
Division

NAME OF
AGENCY

Epidemiology Matters:
CDC Keeps America Healthy, Safe, and Secure

America Needs
a Strong CDC
CDC is on the cutting-edge of health
security and works 24/7 to safeguard
America’s health. For more information
on epidemiology and the life-saving
work of the CDC, visit www.cdc.gov
or call 1-800-CDC-INFO.

CDC collected information including:
• The number of trainees in the Alpha Company (303)
• Which routine vaccinations trainees and staff
had received
• Housing and training arrangements for different
companies in the 554th Battalion
• The number of cases of pneumonia at FLW
during the time of the outbreak

CDC also interviewed
trainees and staff to gather:
• Demographic information
• Information about any symptoms they
were having
• Medical history data
• Influenza vaccine (flu shot) status
• Nasal and throat swabs from certain individuals
After the data were collected, the epidemiologists
created a database with the information. They analyzed
the data to find out which characteristics were associated
with the infection.

What did CDC investigators discover?
The epidemiologists identified no additional cases
of pneumococcal meningitis infection during the
investigation period (February 1–21, 2009). They did
identify 72 cases of pneumonia among the trainees.

National Center
Division

NAME OF
AGENCY

Epidemiology Matters:
CDC Keeps America Healthy, Safe, and Secure

The investigators found no association between trainees
getting sick and having any of these risk factors:
• Taking antibiotics
• Living in a room with more than 4 trainees
• Smoking
• Showing one or more illness symptoms
• Living on any particular floor of the barracks

What did CDC do to prevent more cases
of the disease?
Epidemiologists were able to stop the FLW outbreak by:
• Giving vaccinations and antibiotics to
trainees and staff
• Teaching better hand hygiene (hand washing)
and cough etiquette (like coughing into a tissue)
The information gained from this investigation helped
CDC improve outbreak detection and timely response
at FLW and other military training installations. CDC also
determined that new vaccines might provide additional
opportunities to reduce pneumonia among military
trainees in the future.

CDC’s epidemiologists
prevent and stop
dangerous diseases.

Reference: Dawood et al.: Outbreak of Pneumonia in the Setting
of Fatal Pneumococcal Meningitis among US Army Trainees:
Potential Role of Chlamydia pneumonia Infection. BMC
Infectious Diseases 2011 11:157

National Center
Division

NAME OF
AGENCY