by Dr Pandula Siribaddana

Created on: November 18, 2010   Last Updated: November 19, 2010

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is one of the major operating arms of the US Department of Health and Human Services and consists of many centers, institutions and offices to effectively perform its functions under a single umbrella organization, the CDC. Apart from its ongoing health related activities, it activates its vast resources in many different instances and emergency response in relation to health is one of the main activities that it performs. Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is one such instance where the CDC played a crucial role in preventing health hazards and to manage resources in providing the optimal care and guidance to personal involved in repairing and clearing up operations.

Following the developments in Gulf of Mexico, the CDC activated its Emergency Operations Center and the National Center for Environmental Health initiated the response as a front line organization related to the CDC in this environmental disaster.

According to the CDC web site, their response to the oil spill was initiated in several different fronts and these include, Surveillance of Health Threats, worker safety, data analysis and communication with the public.

The health surveillance was done by the CDC with the collaboration of health surveillance databases such as National Poisons Database and the BioSense. It monitored the symptoms which may indicate a possible exposure related manifestations among those who were exposed to the oil spill such as the oil company workers and aid workers supporting the cleanup operations. By keeping track of possible disease manifestations it was able to advice and guide the relevant agencies in preventing such manifestations and communicate what measures should be taken in order to avoid its occurrence in the first place.

The CDC also made use of several methods to record information pertaining to workers associated with the oil spill such as cleanup workers, oil company workers, aid workers, coast guards…etc and was observing them for any developments following exposure to the oil spill.

Furthermore, the data analysis pertaining to many environmental samples taken during the oil spill was also done through CDC agencies and these samples were analyzed in relation to possible short and long term health hazards following exposure to its constituents.

Lastly, communication with the public was one of the major issues tackled by this organization and it made sure the data collected, the initiatives taken and the advises necessary are relayed to the public no sooner than they were available to the CDC themselves.

Thus, the initiatives taken and the response made by the CDC during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill should be commended and is a process which will help managing future disasters as effectively or even better than what took place.

Reference:

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/gulfoilspill2010/cdcresponds.a sp

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