Contact

Reaching the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requires knowing which channel matches the nature of the inquiry — general public health questions, media requests, clinical consultations, and emergency notifications each route through distinct offices. This page identifies the primary contact pathways for CDC, outlines the geographic scope of CDC's domestic operations, and explains what information to prepare before submitting a request to ensure the fastest possible routing.

Additional contact options

CDC operates a public contact center at 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636), staffed in English and Spanish, with TTY access at 1-888-232-6348. This line handles general public health questions, requests for publications, and referrals to state or local health departments.

For digital inquiries, CDC maintains a web-based contact form at cdc.gov/contact. Email submission through that portal is processed by the same contact center staff who handle phone calls.

Specific program offices maintain independent contact channels:

1. Media and Press — The CDC Newsroom at cdc.gov/media handles journalist credentialing, embargo requests, and background briefings. Reporters working on deadline should use the dedicated media line separate from the public 800 number.
2. Clinician Consultations — The Emergency Operations Center (EOC), located at CDC's Roybal Campus in Atlanta, Georgia, serves as the 24/7 operations hub for public health emergencies. Clinicians with urgent case consultation needs related to rare or nationally notifiable diseases can reach the EOC through state or territorial health departments, which hold direct liaison contacts.
3. FOIA Requests — The CDC Freedom of Information Act office accepts requests electronically through efoia.cdc.gov or by mail to the CDC FOIA Officer, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30329.
4. Congressional Inquiries — CDC's Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs handles all correspondence originating from Members of Congress or their staff.

Social media accounts operated by CDC on platforms including X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook are used for public health messaging, not for case-specific inquiries or records requests.

How to reach this office

CDC's headquarters is physically located at 1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30329. The main campus, known as the Roybal Campus, houses the director's office, the Emergency Operations Center, and the majority of programmatic divisions. A secondary campus, the Chamblee Campus, is located approximately 8 miles north and hosts laboratory and support functions.

Phone contact for the public information line operates Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time. The EOC operates on a continuous 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week basis for declared public health events.

For inquiries specifically related to occupational safety and health, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) — a component of CDC — maintains a Health Hazard Evaluation program reachable at 1-800-CDC-INFO and through cdc.gov/niosh. NIOSH differs from the public-facing CDC contact center in that it also accepts formal employer or worker requests for workplace health hazard investigations.

Service area covered

CDC's domestic jurisdiction and service area spans all 50 states, the District of Columbia, 5 permanently inhabited U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), and Freely Associated States under compact agreements. For tribal nations, CDC maintains a distinct program infrastructure detailed under CDC Tribal Health Programs.

CDC does not function as a state or local health department and does not provide direct clinical care to individuals. Inquiries requiring local disease reporting, immunization records, or restaurant inspection results are handled by state, territorial, or local health departments, which operate under separate statutory authority. CDC's role in most domestic scenarios is technical assistance, surveillance coordination, laboratory support, and policy guidance — not direct service delivery to individual members of the public.

For international travel health inquiries, CDC's Travelers' Health branch publishes destination-specific advisories at cdc.gov/travel, covering 245 destinations as of the most recent update cycle. Specific travel health questions can also be routed through the 1-800-CDC-INFO line.

What to include in your message

Providing complete, structured information at the point of first contact reduces routing delays. The following breakdown identifies what to include based on inquiry type:

General public health question:
- The specific disease, condition, or health topic
- The state or territory where the situation is occurring
- Whether the inquiry is for personal guidance, professional reference, or media purposes

Clinician or public health professional inquiry:
- Professional credentials and institutional affiliation
- Patient or case details (de-identified, using CDC's standard case description framework if applicable)
- Whether the case meets criteria for a nationally notifiable condition — there are currently 120 nationally notifiable conditions tracked through CDC's National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS)

FOIA request:
- A reasonably specific description of the records sought, including date ranges where applicable
- The requester's fee category (commercial, news media, educational institution, or other) as defined under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)
- Preferred delivery format (electronic or paper)

Media inquiry:
- Publication or outlet name and audience reach
- Story topic and publication or broadcast deadline
- Whether the request involves embargo material or real-time event coverage

Incomplete submissions — particularly FOIA requests lacking a fee category designation or media requests without a stated deadline — are the most common cause of processing delays across CDC's contact functions.

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