epidemic intelligence service epidemic intelligence service the epidemic intelligence service (eis) is a program of the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention (cdc). the modern eis is a two-year, hands-on post-doctoral training program in epidemiology, with a focus on field work. epidemic intelligence serviceagency overviewformedoctober 26, 1951 (1951-10-26)headquartersatlanta, georgia, u.s.33°47′58″n 84°19′42″wemployees60parent agencycenters for disease control and preventionwebsitewww.cdc.gov/eis/ history creation of the epidemic intelligence service was proposed by dr. alexander langmuir, chief of epidemiologic services, communicable disease center at the u.s. public health service on march 30, 1951. dr. langmuir said that it was of utmost importance to planning of appropriate defense measures against biological warfare germs, development of new detection devices, and train laboratory workers for rapid recognition of biological warfare germs. it arose from biological warfare concerns relating to the korean war. the epidemic intelligence service was organized on september 26, 1951, with the purpose of investigating disease outbreaks that are beyond the control of state and local health departments, enforcement of interstate quarantine regulations, and providing epidemic aid at the request of state health agencies. the epidemic intelligence service's first staff members consisted of 21 medical officers from the u.s. public health service. background the eis is operated by the cdc's center for surveillance, epidemiology, and laboratory services (csels), in the office of public health scientific services (ophss). persons participating in the program, known colloquially as "disease detectives", are formally called "eis officers" (or eis fellows) by the cdc and have been dispatched to investigate hundreds of possible epidemics created by natural and artificial causes. since 1951, more than 3,000 eis officers have been involved in domestic and international response efforts, including the anthrax, hantavirus, west nile virus in the united states, and the 2014–16 ebola epidemic in west africa. eis officers begin their fellowship with a one-month training program at cdc headquarters in atlanta, georgia; however, 95% of their two-year term consists of experiential rather than classroom training. for the remainder of their service, eis officers are assigned to operational branches within the cdc or at state and local health departments around the country. placement is determined via a highly competitive matching process. the cdc pairs eis officers with a public health advisor or "pha", forming a scientist (eis officer) and operations (pha) team. eis is a common recruiting pathway into the public health service commissioned corps. the eis is the prototype for field epidemiology training programs (fetp), which operate in numerous countries with technical assistance provided by the cdc. history of responses since the inception of the eis, officers have been involved with treatment, eradication, and disease-control efforts for a variety of medically related crises. below is an abridged timeline of their work. 1950s: the eis worked on polio, lead poisoning, and asian influenza 1960s: cancer clusters, and smallpox 1970s: legionnaires' disease, ebola, and reye syndrome 1980s: toxic shock syndrome, birth defects, and hiv/aids 1990s: tobacco, west nile virus, and contaminated water 2000s: post 9/11 anthrax attacks, e. coli o157:h7, sars, h1n1, and the aftermath of hurricane katrina 2010s: the aftermath of the haiti earthquake, obesity, fungal meningitis, and ebola 2020s: zika virus, covid-19 pandemic eis conference eis officers attend an annual conference in atlanta, georgia, to present components of their work from the preceding year. during the conference, the alexander d. langmuir prize is awarded "to a current officer or first-year alumnus of the eis for the best scientific publication. the award consists of a $100 cash prize, an engraved paperweight, a case of ale or beer redolent of the john snow pub in london, and an inscription on the permanent plaque at cdc." a complete list of langmuir prize winners is included below: year article title publication author(s) 1966 complications of smallpox vaccination: i. national survey in the united states, 1963. n engl j med 1967;276:125–32. j.m. neff, j.m. lane, j.h. pert, r. moore, j.d. millar, d.a. henderson 1967 an outbreak of neuromyasthenia in a kentucky factory—the possible role of a brief exposure to organic mercury. am j epidemiol 1967;86:756–64. g. miller, r. chamberlin, w.m. mccormack 1968 salmonellosis from chicken prepared in commercial rotisseries: report of an outbreak. am j epidemiol 1969;90:429–37. s.b. werner, j. allard, e.a. ager 1969 outbreak of tick-borne relapsing fever in spokane county, washington. jama 1969;210:1045–50. r.s. thompson, w. burgdorfer, r. russell, b.j. francis 1970 tularemia epidemic: vermont, 1968—forty-seven cases linked to contact with muskrats. n engl j med 1969;280:1253–60. l.s. young, d.s. bicknell, b.g. archer, et al. 1971 tomato juice-associated gastroenteritis, washington and oregon, 1969. am j epidemiol 1972;96:219–26. w.h. barker jr., v. runte 1972 salmonella septicemia from platelet transfusions: study of an outbreak traced to a hematogenous carrier of salmonella cholerae-suis. ann intern med 1973;78: 633–41. f.s. rhame, r.k. root, j.d. maclowry, t.a. dadisman, j.v. bennett 1973 outbreak of typhoid fever in trinidad in 1971 traced to a commercial ice cream product. am j epidemiol 1974;100:150–7. a. taylor jr., a. santiago, a.gonzales-cortes, e.j. gangarosa 1974 oyster-associated hepatitis: failure of shellfish certification programs to prevent outbreaks. jama 1975;233:1065–8. b.l. portnoy, p.a. mackowiak, c.t. caraway, j.a. walker, t.w. mckinley, c.a. klein jr. 1975 staphylococcal food poisoning aboard a commercial aircraft. lancet 1975;2:595–9. m.s. eisenberg, k. gaarslev, w. brown, m. horwitz, d. hill 1976 nursery outbreak of peritonitis with pneumoperitoneum probably caused by thermometer-induced rectal perforation. am j epidemiol 1976;104:632–44. m.a. horwitz, j.v. bennett 1977 epidemic yersinia entercolitica infection due to contaminated chocolate milk. n engl j med 1978;298:76–9. r.e. black, r.j. jackson, t. tsai, et al. 1978 measles vaccine efficacy in children previously vaccinated at 12 months of age. pediatrics 1978;62: 955–60. j.s. marks, t.j. halpin, w.a. orenstein 1979 an outbreak of legionnaires’ disease associated with a contaminated air-conditioning cooling tower. n engl j med 1980;302:365–70. t.j. dondero jr., r.c. rendtorff, g.f. mallison, et al. 1979 risk of vascular disease in women: smoking, oral contraceptives, noncontraceptive estrogens, and other factors. jama 1979;242:1150–4. d.b. petitti, j.wingerd, j. pellegrin, et al. 1980 injuries from the wichita falls tornado: implications for prevention. science 1980;207:734–8. r.i. glass, r.b. craven, d.j. bregman, et al. 1981 respiratory irritation due to carpet shampoo: two outbreaks. environ int 1982;8:337–41. k. kreiss, m.g. gonzalez, k.l. conright, a.r. scheere 1981 toxic-shock syndrome in menstruating women: association with tampon use and staphylococcus aureus and clinical features in 52 cases. n engl j med 1980;303:1436–42. k.n. shands, g.p. schmid, b.b. dan, et al. 1982 risk factors for heatstroke: a case-control study. jama 1982;247:3332–6. e.m. kilbourne, k. choi, t.s. jones, s.b. thacker 1983 epidemic listeriosis c—evidence for transmission by food. n engl j med 1983;308:203–6. w.f. schlech iii, p.m. lavigne, r.a. bortolussi, et al. 1984 unexplained deaths in a children's hospital: an epidemiologic assessment. n engl j med 1985;313: 211–6. j.w. buehler, l.f. smith, e.m. wallace, c.w. heath, r. kusiak, j.l. herndon. 1984 medication errors with inhalant epinephrine mimicking an epidemic of neonatal sepsis. n engl j med 1984;310:166–70. s.l. solomon, e.m. wallace, e.l. ford-jones, et al. 1985 the use and efficacy of child-restraint devices: the tennessee experience, 1982 and 1983. jama 1984;252:2571–5. m.d. decker, m.j. dewey, r.h. hutcheson jr., w.s. schaffner 1986 the role of parvovirus b19 in aplastic crisis and erythema infectiosum (fifth disease). j infect dis 1986;154:383–93. t.l. chorba, p. coccia, r.c. holman, et al. 1987 oral contraceptives and cervical cancer risk in costa rica: detection bias or causal association? jama 1988;259:59–64. k.l. irwin, l. rosero-bixby, m.w. oberle, et al. 1988 a day-care–based case-control efficacy study of haemophilus influenzae b polysaccharide vaccine. jama 1988;260:1413–8. l.h. harrison, c. broome, a.w. hightower, et al. 1989 group a meningococcal carriage in travelers returning from saudi arabia. jama 1988;260:2686–9. p.s. moore, l.h. harrison, e.e. telzak, g.w. ajello, c.v. broome 1989 transmission of plasmodium vivax malaria in san diego county, california, 1986. am j trop med hyg 1990;42:3–9. y.a. maldonado, b.l. nahlen, r.r. roberta, et al. 1990 an outbreak of surgical wound infections due to group a streptococcus carried on the scalp. n engl j med 1990;323:968–72. t.d. mastro, t.a. farley, j.a. elliott, et al. 1991 an investigation of the cause of the eosinophiliamyalgia syndrome associated with tryptophan use. n engl j med 1990;323:357–65. e.a. belongia, c.w. hedberg, g.j. gleich, et al. 1992 an outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis among hospitalized patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. n engl j med 1992;326:1514–21. b.r. edlin, j.i. tokars, m.h. grieco, et al. 1993 comparison of pr evention strategies for neonatal group b streptococcal infection: a population-based economic analysis. jama 1993;270:1442–8. j.c. mohle-boetani, a. schuchat, b.d. plikaytis, j.d. smith, c.v. broome 1993 retrospective study of the impact of lead-based hazard remediation on children's blood lead levels in st. louis, missouri. am j epidemiol 1994;139:1016–26. c. staes, t. matte, c.b. copley, d. flanders, s. binder 1994 a massive outbreak in milwaukee of cryptosporidium infection transmitted through the public water supply. n engl j med 1994;331:161–7. w.r. mac kenzie, n.j. hoxie, m.e. proctor, et al. 1995 a multistate outbreak of escherichia coli 0157:h7-associated bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome from hamburgers: the washington experience. jama 1994;272:1349–53. b.p. bell, m. goldoft, p.m. griffin, et al. 1996 a multistate outbreak of salmonella enteritidis infections associated with consumption of schwan's ice cream. n engl j med 1996;334:1281–6 t.w. hennessy, c.w. hedberg, l. slutsker, et al. 1996 passenger to passenger transmission of mycobacterium tuberculosis aboard commercial aircraft during transoceanic travel. n engl j med 1996;334:993–8. t.a. kenyon, s.e. valway, w.w. ihle, i.m. onorato 1997 epidemic meningococcal disease and tobacco smoke: a risk factor study in the pacific northwest. pediatr infect 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