The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has paused testing for more than two dozen diseases and viruses, including rabies.

The CDC said in a list released on March 30 that tests for rabies, monkeypox, varicella zoster, and herpesvirus, among others, are “currently unavailable.” The public health agency regularly tests specimens for states and other federal agencies.

“Several infectious disease tests are temporarily paused as CDC evaluates these assays as part of our routine review to uphold our commitment to high quality laboratory testing,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC’s parent agency, told The Epoch Times in an email on April 2.

“CDC maintains regular communication with state and local health departments and can assist in coordinating testing through alternative laboratories if needed. We anticipate some of these tests will be available through CDC labs again in the coming weeks. In the meantime, CDC stands ready to support our state and local partners to access the public health testing they need.”

The CDC has paused tests in the past but the new pause includes more types of tests than before, and it is not clear why, said Scott Becker, chief executive officer of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, a group that represents state and local governmental health laboratories.

Becker said that reasons for pausing testing can include an ongoing evaluation of testing that has been taking place since 2024, as well as issues with staffing.

Thousands of personnel at the CDC and other federal health agencies have been fired by the Trump administration, in addition to resignations and retirements, resulting in the net loss of about 3,000 CDC workers.

The poxvirus and rabies labs lost about half their prior staff, and the CDC’s malaria branch was gutted even more, according to the National Public Health Coalition, an organization of former and current CDC workers that formed in the wake of the downsizing and has been critical of the administration.

Some of the paused testing focuses on common infections for which commercial testing is available, like Epstein-Barr virus, and the varicella zoster virus behind chickenpox and shingles. But also on the list is testing for some more exotic agents, like the parasitic worms responsible for schistosomiasis, or “snail fever.”

Some specialized state labs, such as those in New York and California, have the ability to pick up the slack while CDC tests are on pause, Becker said. He said the pause is concerning “only if it’s permanent.”

A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Health, which runs the Wadsworth Center testing facility, told The Epoch Times in an email that the pause in testing could delay the detection of disease cases, placing people and communities at risk.

“As the CDC scales back testing for many pathogens, Wadsworth has stepped in to assist with antibody testing for a range of viruses including influenza, pox and rabies,” the spokesperson said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.