US CDC suspends testing for multiple infectious diseases
→State and local public-health labs lose access to CDC diagnostic testing
Change
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suspended more than two dozen diagnostic tests, including for rabies and poxviruses, while it evaluates the assays.
Why it matters
State and local public-health laboratories that lack in-house testing capability cannot obtain CDC diagnostic services for the assays that are paused. CDC will assist in coordinating testing through alternative laboratories while it evaluates the assays and expects some tests to return in the coming weeks. Workforce reductions have cut experienced scientists across affected units; by July 2026 the rabies unit will have only one expert and the poxvirus unit none, limiting available CDC clinical guidance.
Implications
- — State and local public-health laboratory directors must secure contractual or operational arrangements with alternative diagnostic laboratories immediately — otherwise they will have no access to CDC confirmatory testing for the paused assays.
- — State health-department epidemiology and outbreak-response teams must update case-confirmation and reporting protocols now — failure to do so will leave surveillance systems unable to rely on CDC-confirmed results for the paused tests.
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Source
View on The Guardian