Issue: “Protect the CDC's National STD Reference Laboratory”

Dear HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, MD, Senate Health Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders, House Health Subcommittee Chairman Earl "Buddy" Carter, House Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette, CDC Director Susan Monarez, and our Georgia representatives and senators: 5th District Rep. Nikema Williams, and Senators Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock,

We respectfully urge you to protect the only national sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) reference laboratory in the United States and reinstate over 30 scientists affected by the recent reduction in force (RIF). Our country is facing an escalating public health crisis with a surge of STDs and an urgent threat of drug-resistant treatment failures. Scientists at the CDC STD lab have been on the front line to safeguard the American public from STDs. 

The Impact of Closure

The closure of the STD Lab has left our country blind to national-level trends in resistant N. gonorrhoeae and losing ground in the fight against STDs. The lab’s subject matter experts provide indispensable services for STD diagnosis and surveillance for the nation. As we petition, specimens continue to arrive at the STD Lab from all over the country while surveillance, development, and reference activities have been abruptly terminated.  Leading STD experts have strongly expressed their concerns of shutting down the STD Lab! No other institution provides the critical services it offers, and its contributions are essential for combating the current public health threats facing the U.S. Citizens.  Each day, stored samples are at risk of losing decades of research, and efforts later to recapture what is lost will forfeit billions of dollars of earlier research that went before us.  The waste would be unfathomable, and a horrible expense that can never be restored in the scientific community. 

Critical Work Performed by the STD Lab

• Genomic Surveillance: The STD Lab developed the first genomic surveillance tools to distinguish syphilis strains and identified the first cases of “concerning” new drug-resistant strain of gonorrhea. The lab has archived the largest collection of gonorrhea samples (over 100,000) and generated the most comprehensive genomic surveillance data. All in-house developed surveillance tools are being implemented in public health labs to improve local capacity and emergency preparedness to monitor existing and potential new resistance with the recommendations to use doxycycline as post-exposure prophylaxis for bacterial STD prevention. 
• Development of Testing Guidelines: Public health labs and clinics across the country rely heavily on CDC’s laboratory recommendations to ensure accurate and timely STD diagnosis. The first CDC recommendations for syphilis testing was released last year by the STD Lab, amid a record surge of syphilis and congenital syphilis cases. Updating CDC’s recommendations for the laboratory testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea, two most common STDs in the nation, were also in progress before the staff were laid off. 
• Rapid Detection of Infections: Decades of expertise have made the STD Lab an irreplaceable pillar in combating public health crises, equipped to rapidly detect and address early syphilis, chancroid, and emerging threats. The lab actively evaluates and provides insights for newly developed or FDA-cleared STD tests. We have been collaboratively developing more sensitive and rapid tests to replace the nation’s outdated tests for bacterial STDs, and test multiple drug-resistance related genes to guide prompt treatment.
• Reference Lab Services: The STD Lab administers Quality Assessment programs (syphilis proficiency testing program, N. gonorrhoeae susceptibility testing, and genomic surveillance) to ensure the accuracy of public health labs’ tests for diagnosis and outbreak investigation. Each year, thousands of reference materials (N. gonorrhoeae isolates, syphilis sera, live T. pallidum bacteria) are provided for training, point-of-care testing, and/or developing better STD tests for the nation

Our Call to Action

We urge you to:

1. Reinstate the CDC's National STD Reference Laboratory and its staff.
2. Ensure the continuation of its critical services to protect public health.
3. Recognize the laboratory's unique and irreplaceable role in combating STDs and preserving life.

We are asking to preserve the established STD Lab infrastructure which allows us to continue fighting STDs alongside our public health partners. Eliminating the lab would expose the nation to uncontrolled STD outbreaks, escalating antibiotic resistance, and significant health morbidities and economic losses as prevention efforts collapse.

Their work and mission are vital to protecting communities, advancing public health, and saving lives!