7 ms·

CDC's top laboratory on STDs is shut by Trump administration

157 points by pmags 2y ago

pmags 2y ago
More "own goals" by the US in the fight against infectious disease. See also: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/health/cdc-sti-lab-gonorrhea.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/health/cdc-sti-lab-gonorr...
- goku12 2y ago
  This is a goal against the entire human race. The details are in the article. To summarize, they were collaborating with the rest of the world through WHO. And this isn't the only one either. I see scientists and archivists scrambling to save valuable information from the portals of CDC, NOAA, etc.
  - jauntywundrkind 2y ago
    Hostis Humani Generis, hostile to humans in general. From a particularly deranged wicked brand of human who see empathy as weakness, who see human prosperity as bad unless someone at the top is getting very rich.
Teever 2y ago
I've been casually watching Moderna's progress towards a herpes vaccine which IIRC was supposed to come out in 2028. Herpes is one of those things that obviously isn't as big a deal as cancer but it would be nice to be one less thing to worry about when having sexual encounters with new people, and sufferers of it would love to have some sort of relief from infections and the elimination of the stigma around it. It's also associated with Alzheimer's disease so the cost of not producing this vaccine might be hundreds of billions of dollars and years of life and the prevention of so much suffering down the line. It's really dismaying to know that this kind of stuff might not come to fruition because of the combination of incompetence and intentional chaos.
- vasco 2y ago
  I have a weird interest in herpes as a casual reader of medical research papers and there's definitely many studies that found links between herpes and neurological issues, I believe it's a much more serious problem than society perceives it as being.
  - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
    Society over perceives it in fact (otherwise there wouldn't be such strong stigmatism), but there may well be unknown effects. I believe many infections both sexually transmitted and otherwise have understudied neurological effects. It wasn't until the widespread wrath of long covid that public discussion really kicked off.
- userbinator 2y ago
  Moderna isn't the government.
  - prawn 2y ago
    "this kind of stuff"
  - smt88 2y ago
    Moderna, like all modern hard-science companies, is a tiny house built on the top of hundreds of billions of dollars of government-funded research.
  - patates 2y ago
    If CDC, FDA, ACIP etc. are crippled, a) it'd be very hard to release advanced medicine or b) it'd be very easy to release snake oil as medicine and both scenarios would be very bad.
  - rl3 2y ago
    Public and private sector science have historically been enmeshed by design. Public sector medical research has been decimated in recent months, so adverse effects on products developed by private entities is an unfortunate byproduct of that.
classichasclass 2y ago
I've had to use the CDC lab to figure out a drug-resistant Trichomonas infection. Lots of very skilled people at that facility and this is a bad one to lose; it was the only lab that did those sorts of tests. There's not enough money in it for commercial labs.
- pfannkuchen 2y ago
  How is there not enough money in it? Do only poor people get these sorts of issues? Serious question, no shade on poor people.
  - Cthulhu_ 2y ago
    The article mentions something about resistant strains; that's going to be low volume, so high upfront investments for a one time result. In theory, I'm not an expert. But this is the problem with capitalism and health care, the providers just stop if there's not enough money in it for them.
    - AnthonyMouse 2y ago
      > But this is the problem with capitalism and health care, the providers just stop if there's not enough money in it for them. Is this supposed to be a flaw? If the cost of a lab is $500/patient then the patient (or their insurance) pays the $500 and the lab exists. If the cost of the lab is $50,000,000/patient, the lab probably shouldn't be funded, because its cost/benefit ratio is very bad and the same money could have saved more lives by putting it somewhere else. What would you do in the alternative? Have the government provide unlimited funding for things that cost more than they're worth?
      - RandomLensman 2y ago
        Who determines "worth"? What's the RoE on the military or poetry, for example?
        2y ago
water-data-dude 2y ago
This feels similar to the Reagan administration’s approach to the HIV epidemic, and for similar reasons. This will disproportionately impact men who have sex with men, and I have very little doubt that that’s the point.
- colechristensen 2y ago
  >I have very little doubt that that’s the point No, there's a couple of idiots in charge whose policy is being shaped by outside forces that literally want to destroy the country. This isn't some attack on a social issue.
  - InsideOutSanta 2y ago
    It's both.
  - const_cast 2y ago
    When you make a decision you are intrinsically responsible for all obvious consequences of said decision. If I choose to drive drunk, I am not magically not responsible when I mow down a mother with a child in her stroller.
- pyrale 2y ago
  And, likely, it will eventually hit everyone harder than it should, because of this administration’s misconception that it’s only an issue for that community they hate.
jqpabc123 2y ago
Is there some benefit here for Trump voters? I don't see it. But then again, I don't see how a trade war against the world is going to "Make America Great Again" either. It is much more likely to do the opposite.
- actionfromafar 2y ago
  They are encouraged to use abstention, that way only Bad People get STDs. Edit: I was going to say, also don't get raped, but then I remembered, only people asking for it, i.e., Bad People get raped.
  - AStonesThrow 2y ago
    Is there something wrong with the practice of abstinence, or marital fidelity? I mean, sex inevitably causes babies: it’s an incontrovertible but inconvenient truth for the modern urban human species. But we were designed that way, yes?
    - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
      I'm gay, how does my having sex create babies? But that's all beside the point, none of this is something the government should be acting to coerce. Abstinence is fine as a personal choice.
      - pseudo0 2y ago
        I fully agree with that logic, and further think that the government should also not be subsidizing risky behavior through funding for STD treatment and prevention. People should get private insurance based on a lifestyle questionnaire to ensure that all costs are being appropriately allocated based on one's risk profile. If it turns out that it's significantly cheaper to be in a long-term monogamous relationship, well, then that's just the invisible hand of the market at work!
        johnnyanmac 2y ago
kristopolous 2y ago
Another skill to cede to a foreign country i guess. Do these nationalists always dismantle their nation?
- sofixa 2y ago
  > Do these nationalists always dismantle their nation That's a very interesting premise. I can think of a few counterexamples (Franco in Spain, for all the atrocities committed by his regime, Spain unquestionably progressed economically), but in general yes, nationalists are disasters when in power. Of course it doesn't help that often, especially nowadays, the nationalism is just a wrapper for a bunch of grifters that say whatever is needed to get into power (Farage, Le Pen, Trump, Orban, PiS, Putin). So they're just gifting for personal benefit (which explains the dismantling), advertised as nationalism because that convinces the masses.
  - vkou 2y ago
    Russia has unquestionably developed since the 90s, too. Unemployment in 1998 peaked at 13%, and the country was literally falling apart. Now, only the parts outside the tier 1 cities are falling apart.
    - sl-1 2y ago
      Yet they have also gotten involved in a very destructive war that destroyed their fossil fuel markets, made them a pariah and wasted their Soviet heritage military arsenal. Would not count it as development.
      - vkou 2y ago
        While it is true that many Russians might prefer living in a 2019 Russia over a 2025 Russia, you're not going to find a single person in the country who would prefer the 1999 Russia over either of them. > wasted their Soviet heritage military arsenal 30-year-old arsenals require replacement, and war (even an embarrassing one) is an to modernize them.
floppiplopp 2y ago
Well, fuck. Or, on second thought, don't. You'll probably will die of super-syphilis.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
eriri 2y ago
Ugh, what a complete lack of regard for actual human lives aaaand the article gets flagged. What a mess.

157 points by pmags 2y ago

More "own goals" by the US in the fight against infectious disease. See also: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/health/cdc-sti-lab-gonorrhea.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/health/cdc-sti-lab-gonorr...

goku12 2y ago
This is a goal against the entire human race. The details are in the article. To summarize, they were collaborating with the rest of the world through WHO. And this isn't the only one either. I see scientists and archivists scrambling to save valuable information from the portals of CDC, NOAA, etc.
- jauntywundrkind 2y ago
  Hostis Humani Generis, hostile to humans in general. From a particularly deranged wicked brand of human who see empathy as weakness, who see human prosperity as bad unless someone at the top is getting very rich.

Teever 2y ago

I've been casually watching Moderna's progress towards a herpes vaccine which IIRC was supposed to come out in 2028. Herpes is one of those things that obviously isn't as big a deal as cancer but it would be nice to be one less thing to worry about when having sexual encounters with new people, and sufferers of it would love to have some sort of relief from infections and the elimination of the stigma around it. It's also associated with Alzheimer's disease so the cost of not producing this vaccine might be hundreds of billions of dollars and years of life and the prevention of so much suffering down the line. It's really dismaying to know that this kind of stuff might not come to fruition because of the combination of incompetence and intentional chaos.

vasco 2y ago
I have a weird interest in herpes as a casual reader of medical research papers and there's definitely many studies that found links between herpes and neurological issues, I believe it's a much more serious problem than society perceives it as being.
- HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
  Society over perceives it in fact (otherwise there wouldn't be such strong stigmatism), but there may well be unknown effects. I believe many infections both sexually transmitted and otherwise have understudied neurological effects. It wasn't until the widespread wrath of long covid that public discussion really kicked off.
userbinator 2y ago
Moderna isn't the government.
- prawn 2y ago
  "this kind of stuff"
- smt88 2y ago
  Moderna, like all modern hard-science companies, is a tiny house built on the top of hundreds of billions of dollars of government-funded research.
- patates 2y ago
  If CDC, FDA, ACIP etc. are crippled, a) it'd be very hard to release advanced medicine or b) it'd be very easy to release snake oil as medicine and both scenarios would be very bad.
- rl3 2y ago
  Public and private sector science have historically been enmeshed by design. Public sector medical research has been decimated in recent months, so adverse effects on products developed by private entities is an unfortunate byproduct of that.

classichasclass 2y ago

I've had to use the CDC lab to figure out a drug-resistant Trichomonas infection. Lots of very skilled people at that facility and this is a bad one to lose; it was the only lab that did those sorts of tests. There's not enough money in it for commercial labs.

pfannkuchen 2y ago
How is there not enough money in it? Do only poor people get these sorts of issues? Serious question, no shade on poor people.
- Cthulhu_ 2y ago
  The article mentions something about resistant strains; that's going to be low volume, so high upfront investments for a one time result. In theory, I'm not an expert. But this is the problem with capitalism and health care, the providers just stop if there's not enough money in it for them.
  - AnthonyMouse 2y ago
    > But this is the problem with capitalism and health care, the providers just stop if there's not enough money in it for them. Is this supposed to be a flaw? If the cost of a lab is $500/patient then the patient (or their insurance) pays the $500 and the lab exists. If the cost of the lab is $50,000,000/patient, the lab probably shouldn't be funded, because its cost/benefit ratio is very bad and the same money could have saved more lives by putting it somewhere else. What would you do in the alternative? Have the government provide unlimited funding for things that cost more than they're worth?
    - RandomLensman 2y ago
      Who determines "worth"? What's the RoE on the military or poetry, for example?
      - 2y ago

water-data-dude 2y ago

This feels similar to the Reagan administration’s approach to the HIV epidemic, and for similar reasons. This will disproportionately impact men who have sex with men, and I have very little doubt that that’s the point.

colechristensen 2y ago
>I have very little doubt that that’s the point No, there's a couple of idiots in charge whose policy is being shaped by outside forces that literally want to destroy the country. This isn't some attack on a social issue.
- InsideOutSanta 2y ago
  It's both.
- const_cast 2y ago
  When you make a decision you are intrinsically responsible for all obvious consequences of said decision. If I choose to drive drunk, I am not magically not responsible when I mow down a mother with a child in her stroller.
pyrale 2y ago
And, likely, it will eventually hit everyone harder than it should, because of this administration’s misconception that it’s only an issue for that community they hate.

jqpabc123 2y ago

Is there some benefit here for Trump voters? I don't see it. But then again, I don't see how a trade war against the world is going to "Make America Great Again" either. It is much more likely to do the opposite.

actionfromafar 2y ago
They are encouraged to use abstention, that way only Bad People get STDs. Edit: I was going to say, also don't get raped, but then I remembered, only people asking for it, i.e., Bad People get raped.
- AStonesThrow 2y ago
  Is there something wrong with the practice of abstinence, or marital fidelity? I mean, sex inevitably causes babies: it’s an incontrovertible but inconvenient truth for the modern urban human species. But we were designed that way, yes?
  - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
    I'm gay, how does my having sex create babies? But that's all beside the point, none of this is something the government should be acting to coerce. Abstinence is fine as a personal choice.
    - pseudo0 2y ago
      I fully agree with that logic, and further think that the government should also not be subsidizing risky behavior through funding for STD treatment and prevention. People should get private insurance based on a lifestyle questionnaire to ensure that all costs are being appropriately allocated based on one's risk profile. If it turns out that it's significantly cheaper to be in a long-term monogamous relationship, well, then that's just the invisible hand of the market at work!
      - johnnyanmac 2y ago

kristopolous 2y ago

Another skill to cede to a foreign country i guess. Do these nationalists always dismantle their nation?

sofixa 2y ago
> Do these nationalists always dismantle their nation That's a very interesting premise. I can think of a few counterexamples (Franco in Spain, for all the atrocities committed by his regime, Spain unquestionably progressed economically), but in general yes, nationalists are disasters when in power. Of course it doesn't help that often, especially nowadays, the nationalism is just a wrapper for a bunch of grifters that say whatever is needed to get into power (Farage, Le Pen, Trump, Orban, PiS, Putin). So they're just gifting for personal benefit (which explains the dismantling), advertised as nationalism because that convinces the masses.
- vkou 2y ago
  Russia has unquestionably developed since the 90s, too. Unemployment in 1998 peaked at 13%, and the country was literally falling apart. Now, only the parts outside the tier 1 cities are falling apart.
  - sl-1 2y ago
    Yet they have also gotten involved in a very destructive war that destroyed their fossil fuel markets, made them a pariah and wasted their Soviet heritage military arsenal. Would not count it as development.
    - vkou 2y ago
      While it is true that many Russians might prefer living in a 2019 Russia over a 2025 Russia, you're not going to find a single person in the country who would prefer the 1999 Russia over either of them. > wasted their Soviet heritage military arsenal 30-year-old arsenals require replacement, and war (even an embarrassing one) is an to modernize them.

floppiplopp 2y ago

Well, fuck. Or, on second thought, don't. You'll probably will die of super-syphilis.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

eriri 2y ago

Ugh, what a complete lack of regard for actual human lives aaaand the article gets flagged. What a mess.