Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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History & Society

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

United States agency

Also known as: CDC, Communicable Disease Center

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Apr 13, 2024 • Article History

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Category: History & Society

Date:: 1946 - present

Headquarters:: Atlanta

Areas Of Involvement:: public health; preventive medicine

Related People:: David Satcher

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, headquartered in Atlanta, whose mission is centred on preventing and controlling disease and promoting environmental health and health education in the United States. Part of the Public Health Service, it was founded in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center to fight malaria and other infectious diseases. As its scope widened to polio, smallpox, and disease surveillance, the name was changed to the Center for Disease Control and later pluralized. Today the CDC subsumes health statistics, infectious diseases, and environmental health; a National Immunization ...(100 of 151 words)

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