The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced plans to release over $200 million geared towards rebuilding state and local public health infrastructure. A major objective will be to expand and improve the Lab Network, a group of laboratories across the country that conduct tests to identify outbreaks of disease, especially those that could be used in a bioterrorist attack. As the HHS has stated, “…regional and state health resources must be closely linked in a nationwide network. The network must have the capability to detect and report unusual patterns, and it must have substantial laboratory resources ready for use.”

The funds are part of an appropriations bill recently signed by President Bush. The bill designates several billion dollars to the effort against bioterrorism; $1 billion of that will be awarded to states as they work to become better prepared in the event of an attack. They will need to find ways to improve working relationships and communication between clinical labs (known as Level A labs) and public health and reference labs (Level B and C labs), which perform more sophisticated tests, as well as with public health officials in the state.