CDC pauses testing for rabies, Epstein-Barr, monkeypox and other viruses

The federal disease surveillance agency has suspended its diagnostic tests for rabies, monkeypox and a number of other infectious diseases.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week released a list of more than two dozen types of tests that have become unavailable.

This is not the first time the CDC has suspended some of its laboratory tests. But it’s suspending more types of tests than ever before, and it’s not entirely clear why, said Scott Becker, chief executive of the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

A government spokesperson called the pause temporary and attributed it to “a routine review to meet our commitment to high-quality laboratory testing.”

“We anticipate that some of these tests will be available again in CDC laboratories in the coming weeks. In the meantime, CDC stands ready to help our state and local partners access the public health tests they need,” said Andrew Nixon of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC.

CDC laboratory operations were flawed during the COVID-19 pandemic and were the subject of subsequent review by a task force. The agency has been evaluating its tests since 2024, Becker said.

But there may be other reasons why testing is done offline, including staffing issues, he noted.

The suspension of laboratory testing follows the dramatic reduction in the CDC’s workforce over the past year, through layoffs, retirements, resignations and non-renewal of temporary appointments. Staffing levels declined by 20 to 25 percent, according to various estimates, and this was felt throughout the agency, including in laboratories.

The poxvirus and rabies labs lost about half their previous staff, and the CDC’s malaria branch was destroyed even more, according to the National Public Health Coalition, an organization of current and former CDC employees that formed in the wake of the downsizing.

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 that causes chickenpox and shingles. But the list also includes tests for some more exotic agents, like the parasitic worms that cause “snail fever” and the virus that causes “sloth fever.”

Some specialized state labs, like those in New York and California, have the capacity to take over while CDC testing is paused, Becker said.

He called the breaks “concerning, only if they are permanent.”