The federal disease monitoring agency has suspended its diagnostic tests for rabies, monkeypox and other serious infectious diseases.
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a list of more than two dozen types of tests that are no longer available.
This is not the first time the CDC has suspended some of its laboratory tests. However, this time they are doing it with a greater variety of tests than ever, and the reason is not entirely clearsaid Scott Becker, executive director of the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
A government spokesperson called the suspension temporary and attributed it to “a routine review aimed at maintaining our commitment to high quality in laboratory testing.”
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“We anticipate that some of these tests will become available again through CDC laboratories in the coming weeks. In the meantime, CDC stands ready to support our state and local partners so they can access the public health tests they need,” said Andrew Nixon of the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that oversees the CDC.
The CDC’s laboratory operations came under fire during the COVID-19 pandemic and underwent subsequent review by a task force. The agency has been evaluating its tests since 2024, Becker said.
However, there may be other reasons for withdrawing certain market tests, including staffing issues, he noted.
The suspension of laboratory testing follows a drastic reduction in CDC staff over the past year, caused by layoffs, retirements, resignations and the non-renewal of temporary appointments. Staff was reduced by between 20% and 25%, according to various estimates, and this was felt throughout the agency, including the laboratories.
Labs dedicated to poxviruses and rabies lost about half their staff, and the CDC’s malaria division was further dismantled, according to the National Public Health Coalition, an organization made up of current and former CDC workers in the wake of the staff reductions.
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Some of the suspended tests focus on common infections for which commercial tests are available, such as the Epstein-Barr virus and the varicella-zoster virus, which causes chickenpox and shingles. But the list also includes the detection of some more exotic agents, such as the parasites responsible for “snail fever” and the virus that causes “sloth fever.”
Some specialized state laboratories — such as those in New York and California — have the capacity to meet demand while CDC testing is suspended, said Becker, who called that pause “concerning, only if it ends up being permanent.”
