Fighting Overseas To Protect Americans
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the country's public-health agency, is taking proactive steps to protect Americans from deadly diseases. The agency is doing this by fighting epidemics around the world, sometimes before they even become epidemics.
The CDC was on hand, for example, when a single case of Ebola was detected earlier this year. The patient was quickly isolated, so the fast-moving disease never spread, averting disaster.
Since so many people travel to the United States each year, the CDC reaches out to other countries in order to protect Americans. Every case of measles found in the U.S. this year had its origin traced back to overseas.