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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has temporarily halted its diagnostic testing for rabies, monkeypox, and several other infectious diseases. This pause affects over two dozen types of testing. The CDC attributes this decision to a routine review aimed at maintaining high-quality laboratory testing standards.
Andrew Nixon from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, stated that some tests might resume in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the CDC will support state and local partners in accessing necessary public health testing. The pause follows a significant downsizing at the CDC, resulting in a 20% to 25% reduction in staff. This downsizing has particularly affected the poxvirus and rabies labs, which lost about half of their staff.
The CDC's laboratory operations have been under review since 2024, following criticisms during the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Public Health Coalition, an organization of former and current CDC workers, highlighted that the CDC’s malaria branch was even more severely impacted.
While some of the paused tests are for common infections like Epstein-Barr virus and varicella zoster virus, others involve more exotic agents such as parasitic worms responsible for "snail fever" and the virus causing "sloth fever." Some state labs, particularly in New York and California, are equipped to manage testing during the CDC's pause.