Letter to Chairman Roy Blunt and Ranking Member Patty Murray - Legionnaires' Disease

Letter

Dear Chairman Blunt and Ranking Member Murray:

We urge you to recognize the importance and recent surge in U.S. cases of Legionnaires' disease as you finalize the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies' Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 Appropriations bill.

Legionnaires' disease is a type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year an estimated 8,000 to 18,000 people seek care in a hospital due to Legionnaires' disease in the United States. However, recently there has been an uptick in the number of cases and unfortunately deaths related to Legionnaires' disease. An infection of Legionnaires' disease occurs when a person breathes in a mist or vapor that has been contaminated with Legionella.

Studies have found that cooling towers can be infected with the bacteria. Currently there is no national standard for the frequency of testing for Legionella in cooling towers or elsewhere. The CDC has been working on research, surveillance and reporting efforts around Legionnaires' disease, but with an over 249% increase in disease prevalence between 2000 and 2011, it is clear that more needs to be done.

The Administration's FY 2016 budget proposal requests $500 million for the Core Infectious Diseases Program, which is where CDC's activities around Legionnaires' disease are funded. This is an important increase of $250 million. CDC believes that Legionella is an emerging respiratory pathogen and as such they would like to have the increased resources to properly research and eventually create a national testing standard. These are actions that are necessary to curb the recent outbreaks and better understand how to prevent and treat these occurrences.

We realize the Subcommittee has many priorities to fulfill, but we urge you to support increased funding for the CDC's Core Infectious Diseases Program within the final Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies' Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 appropriations bill. Legionnaires' disease is a public health threat that is not fully understood. This funding will go a long way to ensuing that the necessary resources to research and combat this disease are provided. Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of our request.

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