Federal lab tracking rising STIs has been closed

Drug-resistant go disease is thought to be a type of widespread sexually transmitted disease Emergency Health Threats all over the world. The US has just lost its ability to detect it.

Among the Disease Control and Prevention Employee Centers fired Tuesday were 77 scientists who collected samples of go disease and other STIs from laboratories around the country, among other studies.

No other researchers from the agency have the expertise or software to continue this work. The sudden halt has left around 1,000 samples of go disease and other sexually transmitted pathogens that have not yet been processed, with probably dozens more heading to the agency.

One CDC representative who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation has now had as many as 30 freezers full of samples that are not custodians.

“We were really closed in the air, like there was no warning,” the official said. “It was completely unplanned and confused.”

CDC's studies on STIs have had greater urgency over the past few years as the rates of new infectious diseases have skyrocketed. Over 2.4 million new STIs were diagnosed in 2023. 1 million more 20 years ago.

In 2023, approximately 4,000 babies were born with congenital syphilis. Approximately 280 stillborns or died soon.

“Everyone who removes the lab doesn't understand how important it is,” said another senior CDC official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Approximately 600,000 new cases of go disease I've been diagnosed In the US in 2023, a bacteria that causes go disease called Neisseria gonorrhoeae, known as It spreads through sexual contact to the genitals, rectum and throat. Without treatment, it can lead to infertility and infertility, blindness in the infant, and even death.

I have go disease It becomes resistant Almost all available antibiotics leave a single class still sniffing it off. The most powerful defense combines ceftriaxone and azithromycin shots, but some evidence of suggestion that it is go disease Evolves into side steps Even that treatment.

For more than 25 years, CDC Labs have archived roughly 50,000 go disease samples (the largest collection in the world) that allow scientists to track how pathogens have changed over time. It is not clear what will happen to the sample.

Dr. Jenelle Stewart, an infectious disease doctor at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, said one new public health strategy would make it even more important for the country to track go disease.

To combat revived syphilis and chlamydia, the CDC last year recommended that gay and bisexual men and transgender women take doxycycline, a widely used antibiotic, within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

We've already seen cities like San Francisco and Seattle, which previously supported practices called Doxy-Pep Dramatic drop At the rate of those infectious diseases.

However, researchers are concerned that widespread use of doxycycline may increase resistance to an entire class of antibiotics called tetracyclines. some the study suggest There may be reason anxiety.

Last month, Harvard University researcher Over 14,000 genetic sequences were analyzed Generated by CDC researchers, the percentage of go disease is Antibiotic resistance rose to more than 35% last year, up from under 10% in 2020.

All federal scientists who created that data and published were fired. “Without public health money and infrastructure, no one knows if someone will take up a torch to monitor go disease resistance,” Dr. Stewart said.

“This is a huge loss,” she added.

Dr. Stewart and his colleagues spent two years preparing protocols and apps to study doxiepeps in cisgender women and monitored the resistance to go disease.

The study was supported by adolescent medical examination networks, which had been funded slashed last month.

at least Five other grants Finished to study Doxy-PEP along with various grants at the National Institutes of Health aimed at preventing STIs including HIV

Although any lab can test STIs, commercial testing cannot determine whether go disease responds to available treatments. CDC scientists have developed only such tests, providing funding and training to dozens of labs with sophisticated testing.

Samples were sent to the agency for confirmation. Without the agency scientists, drug susceptibility testing would likely cease, several experts said.

“Without a national lab, we can't have a national surveillance system,” said the scientist who leads a CDC-funded lab but doesn't want it to be identified without permission to speak to the media.

CDC scientists were also helping to develop alternatives to the country's outdated syphilis testing. Active infections cannot be identified. It's just whether someone has been infected. The agency has three large contracts to develop new syphilis tests.

However, without the expertise and a sample of CDC scientists, it is unclear whether the work will continue, said a senior official with knowledge of the situation.

The fired scientists had around 1,400 years of outdoor experience between them. “These were highly trained people that were not easily exchanged,” an official said.