Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service

This 'history' of the Epidemic Intelligence Service is mostly a series of profiles of particular epidemiological investigations performed by various members of the EIS, and of vaccination/prevention outreach initiatives they have been involved in. That episodic nature makes it a good book to drop into at random, but it also avoids the overarching narrative fallacy that sometimes affects such histories. The author clearly reveres the work that the EIS and its workers have done, so there's a bit of hagiography here. On the other hand, some failed investigations are also reported, and the issue of vaccine-derived polio cases from the Oral Polio Vaccine-- and the communication around them-- is discussed frankly. The reader gets a general show more sense of how these investigations work and what case-control studies do, as well as a general sense of how outbreaks of disease are studied. Overall, an interesting, enjoyable and educational book for those interested in public health.
Reading it in 2021, I feel a certain visceral discomfort thinking about what the post-2016 years and especially the Covid-19 pandemic may have wrought in the EIS and the CDC in general, but that's a story to be told later, I believe. show less

Book: Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service by Mark Pendergrast

About: Pendergrast tells stories of the Center for Disease Control's Epidemic Intelligence Service. The EIS officers travel around the world combating and solving epidemics.

Pros: Fascinating book with a great mix of tales about a variety of locations and diseases.

Cons: Awful organization: It's arranged chronologically so it goes from topic to topic alot. Arranging it by country or disease type would have improved the reader's experience. Far too many "see pages xxx-xxx" footnotes. No in-text cites.

Grade: C+