Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC)

​​​​​​​​​​The Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emering Infectious Diseases (ELC) Cooperative Agreement provides cross-cutting and disease-specific funding support for public health laboratories through the CDC. 

Cross-cutting Fundi​​​ng

Cross-cutting ELC funding supports activities that strengthen epidemiology and laboratory capacity as well as health information systems for rapid disease detection and outbreak response. In the laboratory, these funds are also used to support scientists who can work across various areas of a laboratory, staff liaisons between laboratory and epidemiology programs, laboratory equipment and maintenance contracts, courier services and electronic laboratory reporting systems. Cross-cutting funding is a mandatory expenditure of the Prevention and Public Health Fund, part of the Affordable Care Act.  

For example, in 2020, cross-cutting ELC funds allowed state and local laboratories to initiate surge testing long before COVID-19-specific funding was appropriated. Laboratories needed to rapidly scale testing, obtain additional equipment, hire staff to address massive surges in testing and implement and improve systems for receiving samples and communicating results, and more. Without this cross-cutting funding, the response to COVID-19 would have been delayed by months.

Disease-specific Fundin​​​g

ELC disease-specific funding supports rapid surveillance, detection and response for threats, such as foodborne diseases, seasonal influenza, vector-borne diseases, antimicrobial resistant infections and vaccine-preventable diseases. Additionally, this source provides emergency funding for emerging infectious diseases, such as COVID-19 and Zika, allowing the response to be scaled-up based on need. Disease-specific funding is appropriated annually by Congress.

Learn More About the ELC Program

Factsheets 

Success Stories

These stories explore how pubic health laboratories innovated and enhanced their work, which was made possible by recent funding opportunities and highlights the critical need for ongoing, cross-cutting and sustainable funding.  

Advanced Molecular Detection 

• Standing up Sequencing for SARS-CoV-2
  

• Detecting, Sequencing and Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 Virus Variants
  

Informatics 

• Colorado: W​​hole Genome Sequencing Mandate-Need for Electronic Ordering 
  

• Fairfax County: Modernization through Cloud Migration​
  

• Michigan: Sharing Critical Data through the Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory Network​

• ​Missouri: Fellowship in the Laboratory Builds Workforce Capacity​

• Oregon: Streamlining the Laboratory Approach to Surveillance Reporting

• Wyoming: A Portal to Save the Day

Wastewater Surveillance 

• Wastewater Surveillance During the Pandemic—and Now? 
  

• National Wastewater Surveillance System Centers of Excellence 
  

• Supporting Polio and Mpox Population Surveillance through Wastewater Testing 
  

• Considerations for Implementing Wastewater Surveillance in Rural Communities 
  

• Health Equity through PFAS and Wastewater Surveillance