Health

A Federal Lab That Tracked Rising S.T.I.s Has Been Shuttered

Published

11 months ago

April 4, 2025

A Federal Lab That Tracked Rising S.T.I.s Has Been Shuttered

Drug-resistant gonorrhea, a form of the widespread sexually transmitted infection, is considered an urgent health threat worldwide. The United States has just lost its ability to detect it.

Among the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees fired on Tuesday were 77 scientists who, among other work, gathered samples of gonorrhea and other S.T.I.s from labs nationwide, analyzed the genetic information for signs of drug resistance, and readied the samples for storage at a secure facility.

No other researchers at the agency have the expertise, or the software, to continue this work. The abrupt halt has stranded about 1,000 samples of gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted pathogens that had not yet been processed, and perhaps dozens more headed to the agency.

There are as many as 30 freezers full of samples that now have no custodians, said one senior C.D.C. official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

“We were just really shut down midair, like there was no warning,” the official said. “It was just completely unplanned and chaotic.”

The C.D.C.’s work on S.T.I.s had taken on greater urgency in the past few years as rates of new infections soared. More than 2.4 million new S.T.I.s were diagnosed in 2023, about one million more than 20 years ago.

Nearly 4,000 babies were born with congenital syphilis in 2023. About 280 were stillborn or died soon after.

“Whoever got rid of the lab just doesn’t understand how important the lab is,” said another senior C.D.C. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

About 600,000 new gonorrhea cases were diagnosed in the United States in 2023. The bacteria that cause gonorrhea, called Neisseria gonorrhoeae, spread through sexual contact to the genitals, rectum and throat. Left untreated, it can cause infertility and sterility, blindness in infants or even death.

Gonorrhea has become resistant to nearly every available antibiotic, leaving a single class that still snuffs it out. The most powerful defense combines a shot of ceftriaxone with azithromycin, but some evidence hints that gonorrhea is evolving to sidestep even that treatment.

Over more than 25 years, the C.D.C. lab archived about 50,000 gonorrhea samples — the largest collection in the world — which allow scientists to track how the pathogen has changed over time. It’s not clear what will happen to the samples.

One new public health strategy makes it even more important for the nation to track gonorrhea, said Dr. Jenell Stewart, an infectious diseases physician at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis.

In a bid to combat resurgent syphilis and chlamydia, the C.D.C. recommended last year that gay and bisexual men and transgender women take doxycycline, a widely used antibiotic, within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

Cities like San Francisco and Seattle that had earlier endorsed the practice, called doxy-PEP, have already seen drastic drops in the rates of those infections.

But researchers are worried that widespread use of doxycycline might increase resistance to the entire class of antibiotics, called tetracyclines. A few studies suggest there may be reason to worry.

Harvard University researchers last month analyzed more than 14,000 genetic sequences generated by C.D.C. researchers and found that the proportion of gonorrhea bacteria with antibiotic resistance increased to more than 35 percent last year, from less than 10 percent in 2020.

The federal scientists who produced that data and made it publicly available have all been fired. “Without public health money and infrastructure, I’m not sure who if anyone will take up the torch to monitor gonorrhea resistance,” Dr. Stewart said.

“This is a huge loss,” she added.

Dr. Stewart and a colleague spent two years preparing the protocol and an app to study doxy-PEP in cisgender women and monitor gonorrhea resistance.

The study was supported by the Adolescent Medicine Trials Network, whose funding was slashed last month.

At least five other grants to study doxy-PEP have been terminated, along with a variety of grants at the National Institutes of Health aimed at preventing S.T.I.s, including H.I.V.

Any lab can test for S.T.I.s, but commercial tests cannot determine whether gonorrhea will respond to available treatments. C.D.C. scientists developed the only such test, and provided funding and training to a few dozen labs on the sophisticated testing.

Samples were sent to the agency for confirmation. Without the agency scientists, testing for drug sensitivity will most likely cease, several experts said.

“We cannot have a national surveillance system without a national lab,” said one scientist who leads a C.D.C.-funded lab but did not wish to be identified without authorization to speak to the media.

C.D.C. scientists were also helping to develop alternatives to the nation’s outdated syphilis test. It cannot identify an active infection, only whether someone was ever infected. The agency has three large contracts to develop new rapid syphilis tests.

But without expertise and the samples from C.D.C. scientists, it’s unclear whether that work can continue, said a senior official with knowledge of the situation.

The fired scientists had about 1,400 years of field experience between them. The official said, “These were highly trained people that are not replaceable easily.”

Click to comment

Health

The Best Time To Drink Coffee for Weight Loss and a Faster Metabolism

Published

4 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

The Best Time To Drink Coffee for Weight Loss and a Faster Metabolism

The Best Time To Drink Coffee for Weight Loss and Fat Burn | Woman’s World

Use left and right arrow keys to navigate between menu items.

Use escape to exit the menu.

Create a free account to access exclusive content, play games, solve puzzles, test your pop-culture knowledge and receive special offers.
Already have an account? Login

Health

‘SuperAgers’ stay mentally sharp well past 80, as scientists reveal the reason

Published

5 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

‘SuperAgers’ stay mentally sharp well past 80, as scientists reveal the reason

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

On the lookout

→ Heart disease threat projected to climb sharply for key demographic

→ Heavy snow is recipe for serious heart attack risk, experts say

→ Flu season could linger into spring as doctors warn of second wave

A doctor says the second wave of flu season may be worse than previous years. (iStock)

Conversation starters

→ One type of olive oil has a surprising effect on brainpower in aging adults

→ Common vision issue linked to type of lighting used in homes

→ Some supplements may pose risks for people with diabetes, experts say

Medical advances

→ Alzheimer’s symptoms could be predicted years in advance through one simple test

→ Combination nasal spray vaccine could protect against COVID, flu and pneumonia

→ Weight-loss medications could impact sexual health in unexpected ways

Stat of the week

More than 59% of women may have high blood pressure by 2050, according to a new report from the American Heart Association.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES

This article was written by Fox News staff.

Health

Heart disease threat projected to climb sharply for key demographic

Published

17 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Heart disease threat projected to climb sharply for key demographic

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.

The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.

More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.

The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.

As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.

The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)

Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”

“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.

NEARLY 90% OF AMERICANS AT RISK OF SILENT DISEASE — HERE’S WHAT TO KNOW

“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)

Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”

The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.

The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.

DOCTOR SHARES 3 SIMPLE CHANGES TO STAY HEALTHY AND INDEPENDENT AS YOU AGE

“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”

Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.

Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)

Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES

Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.

The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER

Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”

“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”

“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)

“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”

The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ

“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.

“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”

Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle reporter for Fox News Digital.