The nation’s primary disease surveillance agency has temporarily suspended diagnostic testing for rabies, monkeypox, and numerous other infectious diseases, officials announced this week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a roster of over 24 different types of testing that are currently unavailable to the public.
While the CDC has previously suspended certain laboratory services, this represents the largest number of tests ever halted simultaneously, according to Scott Becker, who leads the Association of Public Health Laboratories. The reasoning behind the extensive suspension remains unclear, Becker noted.
Federal health officials described the suspension as temporary, citing “a routine review to uphold our commitment to high quality laboratory testing,” according to a government spokesperson.
“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,” stated Andrew Nixon from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC’s parent agency.
The agency’s laboratory functions faced criticism during the COVID-19 pandemic and underwent subsequent evaluation by a review committee. Becker said the CDC has been assessing its testing capabilities since 2024.
However, staffing challenges could also contribute to testing suspensions, he explained.
The testing halt follows a significant reduction in CDC personnel over the past year through job cuts, retirements, departures, and expired temporary positions. Workforce levels dropped by 20% to 25% based on various calculations, affecting operations throughout the agency, including laboratory divisions.
Laboratory units focusing on poxviruses and rabies experienced approximately 50% staff reductions, while the CDC’s malaria division suffered even deeper cuts, according to the National Public Health Coalition, a group formed by former and current CDC employees following the workforce reduction.
The suspended testing includes both routine infections with available commercial alternatives, such as Epstein-Barr virus and varicella zoster virus responsible for chickenpox and shingles, as well as more unusual pathogens like parasitic worms causing “snail fever” and the virus behind “sloth fever.”
Certain specialized state laboratories, including facilities in New York and California, possess capabilities to fill gaps while CDC testing remains suspended, Becker said.
He described the suspensions as “concerning, only if it’s permanent.”
