CONTACT: Adam Ortega, adam.ortega@treatmentactiongroup.org

April 8, 2026, NEW YORK, NY — Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) paused its diagnostic testing for rabies, mpox (formerly “monkeypox”), and nearly a dozen other infectious diseases. The CDC said it would permanently discontinue many other tests, including leishmania species identification (potentially critical for determining appropriate treatment), measles immune response, Epstein-Barr Virus antibodies, and respiratory panels for SARS-CoV-2 and influenza. Rapid diagnoses for infectious diseases are crucial for administering life-saving treatment after exposure, and reduced testing support will have devastating effects. The pause arrives at a moment when the CDC is already in a state of crisis, having been weakened by the Trump administration through budget cuts, the forced departure of senior employees, and a deliberate attack on its scientific sovereignty.

Undermining the CDC will cripple the ability of the United States to anticipate and manage public health emergencies. When surveillance infrastructure deteriorates, the ability to identify outbreaks and track them over time is reduced.

TAG strongly opposes the systematic dismantling of CDC’s scientific capacity. An attack on diagnostic infrastructure represents an assault on the programs designed to protect Americans. For decades, the CDC has provided diagnostic testing for dozens of infectious diseases, serving as a critical backstop for state and local public health laboratories that lack the capacity to do so independently, making yesterday’s sweeping pause all the more alarming. The damage being done is not the kind that reverses with the next election cycle. Rebuilding gutted federal agencies, restoring institutional knowledge lost with experienced staff, and reestablishing public trust in science are generational undertakings and the cost of that delay will be measured not in monetary value, but in lives.

 “There is no question that this latest development, precipitated by the Trump regime’s wanton evisceration of critical public health protections, will further endanger lives and leave the U.S. population more vulnerable to outbreaks of infectious diseases. Under Trump’s and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s historically inept and morally unconscionable leadership, a new outbreak of mpox, for example, would wreak havoc on communities at higher risk, such as people with advanced HIV disease, who experienced the majority of deaths during the prior mpox outbreak in the U.S.,” said TAG’s HIV Projector Director Riko Boone.

We demand that the CDC immediately reinstate essential diagnostic testing for rabies, pox viruses (i.e., mpox), measles, EBV, and other infectious diseases. TAG calls for the administration to rebuild the CDC’s workforce, which has been reduced by 20%, and its budget, which the White House wants to slash by 41%. The CDC is the cornerstone of America’s public health defense. Slashing its workforce compromises our country’s ability to detect outbreaks and respond accordingly. Significantly reduced staffing leaves the agency ill-equipped to manage new and existing outbreaks, let alone prepare for what comes next. The pauses in testing for dozens of infectious diseases, combined with the loss of CDC workforce, will cause a ripple effect that will be felt across the public health landscape.

“The Administration’s ongoing dismantling of our nation’s public health system and services, including CDC and its surveillance of deadly infections, must end now,” TAG’s executive Director Mark Harrington said. Public health preparedness is not a policy preference or a budget item to be negotiated. It’s the non-negotiable foundation that every life-saving intervention depends on.

About Treatment Action Group

Treatment Action Group (TAG) is an independent, activist, and community-based research and policy think tank working to end the epidemics of HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and hepatitis C virus (HCV). TAG works to ensure that lifesaving science reaches the people who need it most by advancing research, strengthening community leadership, and promoting equitable access to prevention, treatment, and care. 

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