The federal government is creating new labs to find superbugs before they spread.
The decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention comes as a superbug resistant to the last-resort antibiotic colisitin was found in the U.S. earlier this year.
The CDC is providing $67 million to state health departments and to create seven regional labs that will specialize in detecting and identifying superbug threats.
State health departments can send samples taken from patients possibly infected by superbugs to the labs. CDC scientists can quickly identify whether the infection is antibiotic-resistant and take next steps to address any outbreak.
The funding award comes a few months after a superbug resistant to the antibiotic colisitin, used when other antibiotics fail to kill an infection, was found in a Pennsylvania woman.
The superbug was previously found in the United Kingdom in 2008.
The CDC said that at least 2 million people get infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria every year and about 23,000 people die from it.
