A History of Federal Control of Communicable Diseases: Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act

Abstract

The federal government possesses broad powers under Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act to regulate the entry and spread of communicable diseases into and among the United States. Though this power has played a central role in United States history since the time of the colonies and remains important today, no complete history of its development and use exists. In our era of almost unlimited communicable disease possibilities, to ignore past experience is folly—a waste of informational resources that could prove instructive today. This paper attempts to fill that gap, providing a policy history to explain the evolution of federal quarantine and inspection powers.