A 2021 law that provided funding for studying and combating vector-borne diseases, including those carried by ticks, has been reauthorized through 2030.
The Kay Hagan Tick Reauthorization Act passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, according to the office of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who sponsored the Senate version of the bill.
The law provides $10 million in funding for grants to regional centers of excellence in vector-borne diseases and for a national strategy around the diseases, which include such tick-borne illnesses as Lyme disease, Powassan virus, anaplasmosis and babesiosis, along with diseases carried by mosquitoes, such as dengue and West Nile virus.
Kay Hagan was a U.S. senator from North Carolina, who died in 2019 from complications of a Powassan virus infection believed to have been contracted from a tick bite.
