The only lab in the U.S. capable of testing for and tracking antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea, or “super gonorrhea,” was effectively shut down by layoffs. Lab scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had been analyzing blood samples for weeks to determine how dozens ofpatients across six states had become infected with viral hepatitis, a disease that can cause serious liver damage.
But their DNA detective work stopped abruptly last week. Widespread layoffs across federal health agencies earlier this month had resulted in the firing of all 27 lab scientists who worked in the only U.S. facility that could perform the sophisticated genetic sequencing needed to investigate hepatitis outbreaks, lab experts said.