Who We Are
CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) protects people from domestic and global public health threats. NCEZID helps lead efforts across CDC to prepare for and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.
For NCEZID and for CDC overall, 2021 was a continuation of 2020: we remained heavily engaged in the COVID-19 response, while managing our mission-critical work and anticipating future needs. During 2021, we applied many relevant lessons learned from the COVID-19 response to strengthen other infectious disease areas.
In 2021, when NCEZID staff were not deployed to the COVID-19 response, they were directing the center’s “core work”—protecting people from wide-ranging domestic and global health threats, including preparing for and responding to infectious disease outbreaks. Because the work was so extensive, we selected examples for this report that represent exceptional work to advance infectious disease preparedness in each of our priority areas.
2021: Our year in Numbers…..
155 | Multistate clusters of enteric infections investigated (107 salmonellosis, 31 E. coli infections, 17 listeriosis)
100k | Afghan evacuees resettled into the US during Operation Allies Welcome, using NCEZID guidance to protect against infectious diseases. This work involved 239 staff who worked more than 15,000 hours
476k | Americans diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease
300 | Cases of unexplained illnesses and deaths investigated
367 | Investigations of SARS-CoV-2 cases spread between people and animals, and 12 field deployments
18k | Requests from healthcare settings for assistance with possible infectious disease outbreaks (eg COVID-19, AR threats)
9.5M | People enrolled in v-safe, CDC’s smartphone-based tool for quickly reporting any side effects after getting a COVID-19 vaccine
48.5k | ELC-funded staff in state, territorial, and local health departments to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic
2.1M | SARS-CoV-2 viruses sequenced in the US
110K | COVID-19 specimens received and triaged for testing, including 25K specimens that were sequenced at CDC
