A Message From the Editor

With this issue of Public Health Reports (PHR), we are launching a series of contributions from US Public Health Service (PHS) officers. As is prominently displayed on our journal’s masthead, PHR is the official journal of the Office of the US Surgeon General and PHS. Since the journal’s inception, many PHS authors have contributed articles to PHR. July 16 is an important anniversary for the Commissioned Corps (hereinafter, Corps) because on July 16, 1798, the Marine Hospital Fund was established, and it eventually became the Marine Hospital Service. On January 9, 1889, the Corps was established within the Marine Hospital Service, eventually leading to today’s modern uniformed service.

We honor that auspicious beginning in our July issue with an Executive Perspective article contributed by RADM (Ret) Scott Giberson, who led the Corps’ response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a decade ago as the acting deputy surgeon general. RADM Giberson’s reflections in “The Men and Women in Blue: A Revealing Perspective” provide a window into the extensive planning and logistics that led to deployment of the Corps into the West African Ebola hot zone to provide direct patient care. ¹

The general uncertainty and fears that existed at that time were intense. Societal anxiety about the potential spread of Ebola, illness and death from contracting Ebola virus disease (EVD), and concerns for its global spread were heightened. During 2014-2016, nearly 29 000 cases of EVD and more than 11 000 deaths occurred, most in West Africa. Eleven people with EVD were treated in the United States, and 2 deaths occurred. Two nurses caring for these patients contracted EVD, but both survived. ²

From late 2014 to early 2015, more than 300 Corps officers worked at an Ebola treatment unit known as the Monrovia Medical Unit, a 25-bed field hospital in Liberia that provided direct medical care for patients with suspected and confirmed EVD. No deployed Corps officers contracted EVD, and all returned home safely after deployment. RADM Giberson’s firsthand account of leading this mobilization effort provides a historic and useful template for future national and global deployments.

Look for more contributions from the Corps in future issues of PHR, as we continue to actively solicit articles from serving and retired PHS officers to help publicize their important contributions to the national public health enterprise.

Many other important public health topics are covered in this issue of PHR. Articles in this issue run the gamut of public health professional practice, including establishment of a statewide maternal health task force, nonoccupational physical activity during pregnancy, trends in heat-related deaths, examination of gun violence datasets, predictors of individual-level preparedness for natural disasters and trust in disaster assistance, examination of the public health response to COVID-19 among cruise ship passengers, strategies for improving smoking cessation and lung cancer screening, health literacy and primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, hepatitis C testing in statewide jails, cervical cancer screening, access to and screening for children’s mental health, and ethical considerations for data collection and analysis in injury and violence prevention. International contributions in this issue include an article describing the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and ehealth literacy among nursing students in the United States and Türkiye, a study of pathogens found in stray and wild cats in South Korea, and an examination of the intended audience for writing from public health practitioners in Sweden.

It is our intent that all articles in this issue will have applications among the public health community and will stimulate and incentivize improvements among teachers and practitioners. As always, we welcome your input. If you have ideas or suggestions for PHR, please contact us at phreditor@hhs.gov.

Zygmunt F. Dembek, PhD, MS, MPH, FACE
Editor in Chief