The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is announcing the availability of about $70 million in supplemental funding to states, cities, and territories to support continued efforts to protect Americans from Zika virus.

Image/PublicDomainPictures
Image/PublicDomainPictures

The funding, distributed through CDC’s Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Infectious Diseases (ELC) Cooperative Agreement, will further support activities to protect the health of Americans, especially pregnant women, including epidemiologic surveillance and investigation, improving mosquito control and monitoring, and strengthening laboratory capacity. Funding also will support participation in the US Zika Pregnancy Registry to monitor pregnant women with Zika and their infants.

States were notified of the funding opportunity announcement Wednesday, October 19, 2016. All ELC applicants can request funds. The distribution of funds will be determined based on factors such as Zika disease burden, current laboratory and mosquito surveillance and control capacity, the presence of the Zika virus vector (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes), and local Zika virus transmission. CDC continues to work with states and territories to provide emergency resources for critical needs while the agency completes the necessary reviews and approvals of all applications.

The deadline for applications is 11:59 p.m. ET on Nov. 20. For more information on CDC’s ELC Cooperative Agreement, visit the ELC webpage:https://www.cdc.gov/ncezid/dpei/epidemiology-laboratory-capacity.html.