“The Atlanta-based CDC is expanding its involvement in cases of illness overseas, from helping track the source of the highly toxic E. coli outbreak in Germany to homing in on the cause of cholera in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake,” in an effort “to stop epidemics before they can reach the United States,” Reuters/MSNBC.com reports.

CDC Director Thomas Frieden “said the CDC has more than 50 staff members in outposts around the world, replicating a program it first implemented at home to teach state health authorities how to best contain outbreaks,” according to the news service. “We are building systems so we don’t have to be there forever. It’s very similar to what CDC has done over the past 50 years in the United States,” he said (Steenhuysen, 6/30).