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In a surprising move, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has temporarily halted its diagnostic testing for several infectious diseases, including rabies and monkeypox. This decision, announced this week, affects over two dozen types of tests, according to a newly released list by the agency.
While the CDC has occasionally paused certain lab tests in the past, the scope of this suspension is unprecedented, raising questions about the underlying reasons. Scott Becker, CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, noted the unusual extent of this current pause and expressed uncertainty about its exact causes.
A spokesperson for the government has described the halt as a temporary measure, part of a “routine review to uphold our commitment to high-quality laboratory testing.” This statement suggests that the pause is a proactive step to ensure testing standards remain rigorous and reliable.
Andrew Nixon, representing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—which oversees the CDC—reassured the public that the suspension is not permanent. “We anticipate some of these tests will be available through CDC labs again in the coming weeks,” he stated, emphasizing the agency’s readiness to support state and local partners in accessing necessary public health testing during this interim period.
“We anticipate some of these tests will be available through CDC labs again in the coming weeks. In the meantime, CDC stands ready to support our state and local partners to access the public health testing they need,” said Andrew Nixon of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC.
CDC’s laboratory operations were faulted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they were the subject of a subsequent work group’s review. The agency has been evaluating its testing since 2024, Becker said.
But there can be other reasons for taking tests offline, including staffing issues, he noted.
The pausing of lab testing comes in the wake of the dramatic downsizing of the CDC in the last year through layoffs, retirements, resignations and the nonrenewal of temporary appointments. Staffing fell by 20% to 25%, according to different estimates, and was felt across the agency — including in the laboratories.
The poxvirus and rabies labs lost about half their prior staff, and the CDC’s malaria branch was gutted even more, according to the National Public Health Coalition, an organization of former and current CDC workers that formed in the wake of the downsizing.
Some of the paused testing focuses on common infections for which commercial testing is available, like Epstein-Barr virus, and the varicella zoster virus behind chickenpox and shingles. But also on the list is testing for some more exotic agents, like the for parasitic worms responsible for “snail fever” and for the virus that causes “sloth fever.”
Some specialized state labs, like those in the New York and California, have the ability to pick up the slack while CDC tests are on pause, Becker said.
He called the pauses “concerning, only if it’s permanent.”
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