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CDC devotes more than $200 million to combat infectious disease threats

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Brenda Fitzgerald

The CDC announced today that is has allocated more than $200 million through the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases agreement to help prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease threats in U.S. states, territories and counties.

The funds will be distributed to all 50 state health departments; six local health departments, including Chicago, Washington D.C., Houston, Los Angeles County, New York City and Philadelphia; and eight U.S. territories, including the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Guam.

According to a press release, $77 million will be used to help state health departments combat local antibiotic resistance.

“More than 23,000 people in the United States die each year from infections caused by antibiotic resistance,” CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald, MD, said in the release. “CDC is committed to helping states and cities strengthen their ability to combat antibiotic resistance, and these funds will help state efforts to keep people safe.”

The funds will also be used to enhance the Antibiotic Resistance Laboratory Network (AR Lab Network), which is used to “sound the alarm” when antibiotic resistance threats are identified, the release said. The CDC anticipates that the funds will improve current AR Lab Network activities, including:

• nationwide testing for Candida infections, including those caused by drug-resistant Candida auris;
• national tuberculosis surveillance and infrastructure; and
• identification of drug-resistant gonorrhea infections through whole-genome sequencing.

In addition to antibiotic resistance, the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases funds will be used to:

• enhance surveillance of and diagnostic testing for influenza, parasitic diseases, tickborne diseases, mosquito-borne diseases and waterborne diseases;
• establish and maintain health coordinators to track vaccine-preventable diseases;
• improve states’ capacity for advanced molecular detection;
• strengthen laboratory infrastructures with novel diagnostic technologies;
• enhance health information systems to transmit, receive and analyze data related to infectious diseases; and
• support states’ vigilance against Zika virus outbreaks and associated outcomes, including microcephaly and other birth defects.

For more information:

CDC. CDC’s national funding strategy helps state, local, and territorial health departments battle infectious disease threats in the U.S. https://www.cdc.gov/ncezid/dpei/epidemiology-laboratory-capacity.html. Accessed August 4, 2017.

Disclosure: Fitzgerald reports no relevant financial disclosures.