Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. The CDC is the federal agency responsible for administering national programs for the prevention and control of communicable and vector-borne diseases and for developing and implementing programs for dealing with environmental health problems. It also directs quarantine activities and conducts epidemiological research, and it provides consultation on an international basis for the control of preventable diseases. The more than a dozen centers, institutes, and offices include the centers for birth defects and developmental disabilities, chronic disease prevention and health promotion, emerging and zoonotic diseases, environmental health, health statistics, injury prevention and control, immunization and respiratory diseases, and occupational safety and health.
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