CDC awards new antibiotic resistance and food safety funds to state, local health departments

CDC awards new antibiotic resistance and food safety funds to state, local health departments

CDC is awarding $30 million to states and cities to track, investigate and prevent foodborne disease, $14 million of which is funded from the National Action Plan for the Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria. These grants will help states and cities protect Americans from foodborne outbreaks and improve laboratory-based surveillance for foodborne germs, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The grants come through CDC’s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases Cooperative Agreement (ELC). They are part of $240 million awarded through ELC this year to help states detect, prevent and respond to the growing threats posed by infectious diseases.

About 800 foodborne disease outbreaks occur each year in the United States. Every year, 1 in 6 Americans get sick from a foodborne illness, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die. Prompt and effective outbreak investigations and reporting of outbreak data are crucial to remove contaminated food from the market, prevent further illnesses and understand how to prevent them from happening again. This funding will help states and cities strengthen epidemiological capacity, enhance laboratory capacity and improve health information systems. The award includes increased support for the PulseNetand OutbreakNet Enhanced systems and for the Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence, plus continued support for the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). The grants will support:

• Training to ensure that state and local health departments have the ability to use advanced technologies, including whole genome sequencing. Whole genome sequencing is a revolutionary process that uses laboratory methods to determine the complete DNA sequence of an organism’s genome – making it possible to detect and respond to outbreaks earlier. Whole genome sequencing also allows us to detect known markers of antibiotic resistance and is an essential tool in combatting antibiotic resistance.

• Thirty-two whole genome sequencers to improve detection of and surveillance for antibiotic-resistance intestinal bacteria found in ill people.

• Every state is expected to be able to acquire whole genome sequencing equipment by September 2017 and work towards performing whole genome sequencing on bacteria, including Salmonella, Shigella and many types of Campylobacter. These advancements will allow for faster identification and response to foodborne outbreaks and rapid identification of known markers of antibiotic resistance.

• Seven new OutbreakNet Enhanced sites, for a total of eighteen sites that provide support to state health departments to improve capacity to detect, investigate and control foodborne disease outbreaks.
  
• Enhanced Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence activities including outbreak investigation consultation, training epidemiologists on whole genome sequencing and developing more online trainings.

In addition, the award supports local and state health departments’ capacity to:

• Detect, investigate and respond to foodborne disease outbreaks
• Report and exchange outbreak and surveillance data in a  timely and coordinated manner
• Improve completeness and quality of data
• Conduct routine and reliable surveillance of foodborne diseases
• Respond to foodborne disease outbreaks with a trained workforce
• Detect emerging infectious diseases earlier

CDC is dedicated to improving federal and state collaboration to combat antibiotic resistance and improve food safety. 

For more information, visit:

• Food Safety: http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/challenges/antibiotic-resistance.html
• CDC’s ELC Cooperative Agreement and list, by state, of FY16 funding, please visitthe ELC webpage at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncezid/dpei/epidemiology-laboratory-capacity.html