Communicable Disease

Abstract

This chapter explores the key features of American infectious disease law. The history of health law in the United States begins with the colonial laws that responded to the epidemics of smallpox, yellow fever, and other infectious diseases that regularly devastated the North American colonies. In the twentieth century, as the fear of infection declined, courts began to provide greater protections for individuals and vulnerable populations subjected to infectious disease laws. Moreover, the federal government began to play a more prominent and complex role in the control of infectious diseases. The chapter then looks at the allocation of authority between the states and federal government with respect to infectious disease control. It also discusses the role that restraint on individual rights plays in infectious disease control and the limits that the US Constitution and civil rights laws place on such restraints. The chapter also considers some of the specific tools that jurisdictions employ in response to infectious disease. It concludes with a brief discussion of the United States' role in global public health.