Federal authorities are bracing for more Ebola cases in the United States at a time when spending on Ebola research and health emergency preparedness has been on a steady decline.

Even as the U.S. is committing more than $1 billion toward a global fund to battle the virus in West Africa, the total for federal Ebola research — including development of vaccines and treatments — fell to $42.5 million in 2013 after it peaked at more than $59 million in 2006.

Annual funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's public health preparedness and response programs was $1 billion less in fiscal 2013 than it was in 2002, according to a CDC report.