Federal budget could cut local CDC funding

A Northern Colorado facility that combats many major health threats is itself threatened by a massive cut in the federal budget that could eliminate its funding.

The proposed fiscal year 2011 federal budget, now in the hands of Congressional committees, would cut $26.7 million from the Centers for Disease Control’s vector-borne diseases division based in Fort Collins.

“That would completely eliminate the funding for vector-born diseases,´ said Assistant Surgeon General Ali Khan, M.D., acting deputy director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, a new center being created from two existing centers within the CDC.

Nestled into…