WWII had a significant impact of the clothing industry. War rationing, particularly in Britain, required 85% of materials to be used for 'utility' clothing, which needed to be practical, long-lasting, everyday work clothing that did not use any unnecessary material or adornments. Petting was part of it, and helped prepare kids for a world that was changing faster than their parents could keep up with. The process began in high school. By the 1920s, more than three-quarters. The 1940s were a decade marked by World War II, big band music, styles like the zoot suit and an increase in movies and other entertainment as morale boosters for the war effort. Historical events and cultural trends helped to shape the relationships between husbands and wives during this decade.

Take a minute to review many of CDC’s momentous contributions to public health since it was organized in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center.

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• 1979

  • CDC publishes the first Healthy People: The Surgeon General’s Report on Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The report establishes for the first time ambitious, quantifiable objectives for improving the nation’s health, to be achieved by 1990
  • A Lassa fever World Health Organization Collaborating Center is established in Sierra Leone
  • CDC investigates health effects related to the Three-Mile Island nuclear incident
  • CDC assumes lead responsibility in the U.S. Public Health Service for environmental emergency response
  • Last recorded wild case of polio in the United States

• 1978

  • CDC publishes the first NIOSH/OSHA Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards
  • CDC reports the first drug-resistant tuberculosis outbreak; causative organisms are found resistant to the three most commonly-used drugs
  • CDC holds the first international conference on Legionnaires’ disease
  • An expanded maximum containment laboratory (hot lab) is opened to handle viruses that are too dangerous to handle in ordinary laboratories

• 1977

  • CDC receives the report of the last case of naturally-acquired variola minor, the milder strain of the variola virus that causes smallpox, from the Merca District of Somalia
  • NIOSH reorganizes; assumes new mine safety and health responsibilities, and publishes Occupational Diseases: A Guide to Their Recognition
  • CDC isolates Legionella pneumophila, Legionnaires’ disease, the cause of a deadly outbreak in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• 1976

  • CDC diagnoses two recruits at Fort Dix, New Jersey with swine flu and concludes that a deadly flu pandemic is on its way. A national immunization program is launched. No epidemic occurs, and before the immunization campaign is terminated, several people contract Guillain-Barré syndrome from the vaccine
  • Epidemiologists investigate a deadly outbreak of a respiratory disease among attendees at a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania convention
  • CDC sends disease detectives to investigate two large outbreaks in Zaire and Sudan of an unknown deadly hemorrhagic fever, a disease later known as Ebola
  • Environmental Services Division analyzes blood samples collected through NHANES to demonstrate that the level of lead in blood is related to exposure to gasoline. Based on that data, the Environmental Protection Agency implements policies that decrease the amount of lead in gas by half from 1976 – 1980, subsequently dropping levels of lead in blood by 37%, and Congress is persuaded to phase out leaded gas permanently

• 1975

  • CDC establishes the Vessel Sanitation Program in cooperation with the cruise ship industry
  • Dental Disease Prevention Activity is transferred to CDC, bringing with it the Fluoridation Program

  • The Chronic Disease Division is established to target cancer, birth defects, and environmental health issues
  • World Health Organization Collaborating Center for leptospirosis is established at CDC

  • CDC creates a national gonorrhea control program to reverse a spiraling trend in the disease

  • CDC begins to assist in visa and entry screening, immunization, and follow up of the health of Vietnamese refugees to the United States

• 1974

  • CDC establishes Bureau of Health Education, developing health curricula for schools
  • Liver cancer deaths are investigated. Vinyl chloride is discovered as a new occupational hazard, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration sets standards to provide worker protection
  • Through the Study of the Efficacy of Nosocomial Infection Control (SENIC), CDC begins to monitor trends in hospital-acquired infection rates

• 1973

  • National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) transferred to CDC from Health Services & Mental Health Administration
  • Office of Biosafety is established at CDC
  • CDC begins regularly responding to public health crises abroad by providing famine assistance in sub-Saharan Africa
  • Lead-based paint poisoning prevention and urban rat control activities transferred to CDC
  • CDC documents the first nationwide outbreak of Reye syndrome

• 1972

  • National Clearinghouse for Smoking and Health, a precursor to the Office on Smoking and Health, is transferred to CDC
  • CDC establishes the national gonorrhea control program
  • Preventive Medicine Residency program is initiated, preparing graduates for leadership roles in public health and general preventive medicine

• 1971

  • CDC recommends discontinuation of routine immunization and vaccination requirements for smallpox in the United States
  • CDC investigates lead exposure associated with an ore smelter in El Paso, Texas, increasing the scientific understanding of the effects of lead poisoning in children, as it can affect children’s developing nerves and brains
  • CDC’s Phoenix laboratories discover that hepatitis B is sexually transmitted
  • The National Center for Health Statistics conducts the first National Health Examination Survey with a large nutrition component added. The survey’s name is changed to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) Two subsequent surveys are conducted with the surveys becoming an annual event beginning in 1999

• 1970

  • The National Communicable Disease Center (NCDC) is renamed Center for Disease Control (CDC)
  • The National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance system is established to monitor infections acquired in hospital settings
  • The Nutrition Program is transferred to CDC, charged with assessing the occurrences of severe malnutrition in the United States and abroad
  • CDC studies the simultaneous administration of six antigens in vaccinations in Nigerian children
  • CDC starts the Birth Defect Monitoring Program, a nationwide hospital-based birth defects surveillance of about 25% of all births in the United States

• 1969

  • A national rubella immunization campaign begins
  • NCDC opens its first biological containment lab to protect scientists while they work with deadly and infectious pathogens
  • Inter-Regional Seminar on Smallpox Eradication is held in Lagos, Nigeria to discuss the progress of the Smallpox Eradication Program. A ceremony in Niamey, the Republic of Niger is held to celebrate the 100 millionth smallpox vaccination given in Africa

• 1968

  • NCDC (National Communicable Disease Center) becomes a bureau within the U.S. Public Health Service
  • NCDC investigates an unidentified, highly infectious respiratory disease in Pontiac, Michigan, later identified as Legionnaires’ disease
  • The State and Community Service Division is established, combining venereal disease, tuberculosis, and immunization branches
  • NCDC responds to its first major initiative in famine relief within Nigeria during the Biafran war, assisting local health officials in conducting nutrition and disease assessments
  • A tuberculosis surveillance system begins within the United States
  • NCDC responds to influenza pandemic triggered by the influenza A(H3N2) virus

• 1967

  • The Quarantine Service, one of the oldest units of the U.S. Public Health Service, is transferred to CDC
  • CDC begins the Metropolitan Atlanta Congenital Defects Program (MACDP) a population-based tracking system for birth defects in collaboration with Georgia Mental Health Institute and the Emory University School of Medicine
  • The Communicable Disease Center is renamed The National Communicable Disease Center (NCDC) and the title of Chief of the Center is changed to CDC Director
  • Reproductive health activities first begin, (today’s Division of Reproductive Health) to include family planning and healthier mothers and babies

• 1966

  • CDC announces a national measles eradication campaign at the American Public Health Association meeting
  • The International Malaria Eradication Program is moved to CDC from the Agency for International Development (AID)
  • Smallpox Eradication Program is established to manage AID-funded Smallpox Eradication/Measles Control Program in African countries
  • CDC installs first computer system with 16,000 characters of memory. It is used to for batch business-oriented applications

• 1965

  • New surveillance systems added to the original National Surveillance Program of 1952 include measles, shigellosis, tetanus, and trichinosis
  • The special Interagency Committee on Back Contamination (ICBC) is created to determine how to protect Earth from moon contamination
  • A four-week smallpox campaign in Anapa, Brazil is launched to demonstrate and evaluate the jet injector equipment in field operations under a variety of conditions

• 1964

  • The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) approaches CDC for help in working out methods that would ensure that germs from Earth do not get transported into space
  • CDC holds first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), to provide advice and guidance on the appropriate use of biologics and other preventive medical agents for effective disease control in the civilian population
  • Hospital Infections Unit is established as part of the epidemiology program
  • First jet injector studies with smallpox vaccine are conducted in the country of Tonga
  • CDC assigns an EIS officer to work on family planning, expanding the agency’s work to global population issues
  • First Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health is published

• 1963

  • Immunization Assistance Grant Program is established and CDC administers Vaccination Assistance Act through project grants. The program is designed to raise and maintain high levels of immunization against; poliomyelitis, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and tetanus
  • Smallpox Unit of the Surveillance Section is established in Bureau of Epidemiology
  • The Aedes aegypti Eradication Branch is established to eradicate this mosquito from the Americas, as well as to protect against outbreaks of yellow fever and dengue fever
  • All state health departments, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Agriculture join CDC in establishing the Salmonella Surveillance Program

• 1962

  • CDC’s Audiovisual Training Branch changes its name to the National Medical Audiovisual Facility, establishing it as the central audiovisual facility for the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1967, the group is renamed the National Medical Audiovisual Center and administratively transferred to the National Library of Medicine
  • CDC’s Venereal Disease Program changes its name to National Syphilis Eradication program as efforts are placed on strengthening the epidemiologic process
  • CDC establishes a Laboratory Consultation and Development Section to upgrade laboratory performance and to promote increased standardization

• 1961

  • CDC takes over publication of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) from the National Office of Vital Statistics. MMWR is a weekly publication, containing a few short narrative reports and the weekly morbidity and mortality tables. It also publishes the annual “Summary of Notifiable Diseases”
  • A field station to study fungal and viral diseases is established in Kansas City, Kansas
  • An investigation into a cancer cluster expands CDC’s reach into chronic diseases

• 1960

  • The Tuberculosis Program transfers from the U.S. Public Health Service to CDC. The Tuberculosis Laboratory was already in Atlanta at Lawson General Hospital, having moved there several years earlier
  • The first National Health Examination Survey is conducted to collect data on the total prevalence of certain chronic diseases as well as the population distribution of various physical and physiological measures
  • CDC opens new permanent headquarters buildings in Atlanta, Georgia

• 1959

  • A fluorescent antibody test is developed for rabies and field trials demonstrate 100 percent accuracy
  • A Staphylococcus Surveillance Unit is established to coordinate information, compile references and review directives and reports on hospital-acquired infections
  • The Standard New Jersey light trap is modified to create a lightweight and portable mosquito trap to collect samples in swamps and remote areas where electricity is not available

• 1958

  • Epidemics of cholera and smallpox prompt the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) to send a CDC team of EIS officers to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to conduct an epidemiological study and to give epidemic aid
  • CDC investigates the first recorded epidemic of inhalation anthrax in the 20th century at a goat hair processing plant
  • CDC participates in a cooperative program to develop accurate, standard cholesterol measurement procedures. From this research the Cholesterol Standardization Program is developed

• 1957

  • An influenza pandemic emerges in Hong Kong with millions of cases and thousands of deaths. CDC quickly sets up an influenza surveillance unit, a joint operation of the Epidemiology and Laboratory Branches
  • National guidelines for an influenza vaccine are developed
  • The Venereal Disease Division is transferred from the U.S. Public Health Service to CDC, bringing two important innovations to CDC’s activities: a grant program and a new kind of employee, public health advisors
  • The rapid plasma reagin (RPR) blood test for syphilis is developed at Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) on the Chamblee campus. It is both a fast and accurate serologic test for syphilis

• 1956

  • The first practical use for the fluorescent antibody technique is utilized in the CDC laboratories to research communicable diseases of bacterial origin

• 1955

  • During the national polio immunization program, EIS officers trace 260 polio cases to improper vaccine production methods. As a result, the CDC establishes the Polio Surveillance Program
  • CDC gains worldwide recognition for the quality and quantity of its contributions to the taxonomy of the Enterobacteriaceae, a family of germs that is difficult to treat because of its resistance to antibiotics
  • The Senate subcommittee on Public Works approves construction of the new CDC Clifton Road Facility in Atlanta, Georgia

• 1954

  • National Rabies Control Activities Unit is established, providing a coordinated program for all aspects of the disease
  • The EISpdf icon is expanded to include other professional disciplines besides medicine

• 1953

  • CDC reports first case of rabies in a bat
  • The Communicable Disease Center National Surveillance Program is developed to maintain constant vigilance over communicable diseases, to respond immediately when an outbreak occurs
  • Twenty EIS officers collaborated in the National Program for the Evaluation of Gamma Globulin in the Prophylaxis of Poliomyelitisexternal icon
  • The U.S. Public Health Service becomes part of the newly created Cabinet-level Department of Health, Education and Welfare after the Federal Security Agency is dissolved
  • First EIS investigations on environmental exposure to trichloroethylene and occupational exposure

• 1952

  • The Epidemic Intelligence Service participates in 205 outbreaks including involvement in a lead paint investigation, marking the first time an EIS officer specialized in a noninfectious disease
  • Reorganization of the CDC reduces the number of branches into five well-defined spheres of activity: Epidemiology, Training, Technology, Laboratory, and Administrative

• 1951

  • Malaria is considered eliminated from the United States

  • The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is established, recognizing the need for an adequate corps of trained epidemiologists who can be deployed immediately for any contingency, including chemical or biological warfare

  • CDC begins a program to study public health insect problems connected with water resource development
  • Two field stations are established: one to study the effect of economic poisons (pesticides) on humans, and the other to study tropical diseases

• 1950

  • A team of CDC physicians, engineers, and entomologists is sent to Southeast Asia to assist in developing malaria control programs and public health programs as part of an overall technical and economic assistance program
  • CDC begins to withdraw from active participation in the operational phases of the National Malaria Eradication Program and discontinues the Malaria Control Residual Spray Program, shifting interest to surveillance, supporting training programs, consultation and research studies with the states
  • A committee on air-borne disease studies is established, with emphasis on sampling techniques and devices adaptable to biological warfare defense

Dating In 1940s America

• 1949

  • The Production Division is renamed the Audio-Visual Production Division, producing more than 50 health films for field training
  • CDC’s Reference Diagnostic Service Center becomes available to all public health laboratories. Practicing physicians who have hard-to-identify specimens submit through their health departments
  • CDC becomes a division of the Bureau of State Services of the U.S. Public Health Service, primarily concerned with assisting state health authorities
  • The United States is declared free of malaria as a significant public health problem
  • Last case of naturally-occurring smallpox is reported in the United States

• 1948

  • Rabies investigation activities are conducted at the Virus & Rickettsia Laboratory in Montgomery, Alabama
  • CDC assists the Imperial Iranian Government in planning and establishing a national malaria control program
  • CDC conducts first training courses in Laboratory Diagnosis of Tuberculosis and Mycotic Diseases
  • CDC investigations expand to include, typhus, dysentery-diarrheal, fly control-poliomyelitis, viral encephalitis, plague, Q fever, brucellosis, creeping eruption, rabies, histoplasmosis, insecticides, and rodenticides

• 1947

  • CDC acquires the U.S. Public Health Service Plague Suppressive Laboratory which includes an epidemiology division
  • Emory University deeds 15 acres of land to the Federal Government for the development of CDC headquarters on Clifton Road in Atlanta, Georgia
  • CDC establishes the Veterinary Public Health Division, focusing on protecting and improving both animal and human health
  • CDC offers disaster aid in response to multiple chemical explosions in Texas City, Texas. Subsequently, CDC is designated as the official response agency for future epidemics and disasters
  • CDC begins a five-year study on what role flies have in the spread and transmission of poliomyelitis
  • CDC is transferred from the State Relations Division and established as a field station under the immediate direction of the Chief of the Bureau of State Services of the U.S. Public Health Service

• 1946

  • July 1, Malaria Control in War Areasexternal icon, a program within the U.S. Public Health Service, transitions into the Communicable Disease Center (CDC)
  • CDC stations the Laboratory Division at the Lawson Veterans Administration Hospital in Chamblee, Georgia