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United States: The Association of Public Health Laboratories made a formal request on Friday to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to restore two CDC laboratories which lost federal funding and therefore shut down this week. The report from Reuters established that these laboratories specifically explored rare hepatitis strains and drug-resistant sexually transmitted disease (STD) strains.
“The Services Are No Longer Available”
“These two laboratories are essentially shut down,” said Scott Becker, CEO of APHL, in an interview. “The services they provide are no longer available to our nation.” The closed facilities, under the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention and Division of Viral Hepatitis, were the only labs capable of performing certain essential national diagnostic functions.
US group asks Kennedy to restore national labs for hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections – Reuters💙✋🌊 https://t.co/ISvvAZYamj
— Jan Pylko (@JanPylko2022) April 4, 2025
STD Resistance Tracking Ceases
The CDC closed its STD prevention lab which used to serve as the leading national facility for following antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea strains during the major Massachusetts outbreak of 2023. Through its leadership the laboratory created testing standards for the common STDs chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.
Global Hepatitis Testing Leader Shuttered
The viral hepatitis lab, recognized globally for its expertise, not only set the national standards for hepatitis testing but also supported domestic and international outbreak response. It was actively working on a hepatitis outbreak in Florida when the shutdown halted its operations, as reported by Reuters.
Silence from HHS
APHL’s request to HHS for the labs’ reinstatement has not yet received a response. As public health leaders raise alarms, the closure leaves a major gap in the nation’s infectious disease preparedness.
