$50 million to fight infectious diseases

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- State health departments will receive funds totaling $49 million under the Affordable Care Act for infectious disease prevention, U.S. officials say.

Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the U.S. Department of the Health and Human Services, announced awards, intended to bolster epidemiology, laboratory and health information systems in health departments in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Palau, the District of Columbia, New York City, Los Angeles County, Chicago, Philadelphia and Houston.

This is the third year of funding by the Affordable Care Act Prevention and Public Health Fund for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases Cooperative Agreements.

"Today's awards support the critical work of public health departments to prevent, track and respond to new and emerging infectious diseases," Sebelius said in a statement.

Forty-nine states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will receive funding to carry out strategies to protect patients from health care-associated infections -- a patient gets a infection while in a hospital or medical facility.

Sixteen states will receive funding to prevent healthcare-associated infections across the spectrum of healthcare by building multi-facility prevention initiatives in California, Colorado, Connecticut., Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland., Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin.