Wadsworth Center Fills CDC Testing Gap as National Reference Laboratory

New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center Fills Testing Gap for CDC

CDC Pauses Testing for Multiple Specimens

New York's Wadsworth Recognized as National Reference Center Laboratory for Testing and Detection

ALBANY, N.Y. (April 27, 2026) - The New York State Department of Health's Wadsworth Center is assisting with laboratory testing for a range of viruses, including influenza, pox and rabies, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scales back testing for multiple pathogens.

"The New York State Department of Health's Wadsworth Center stands at the forefront of innovation, protecting the health of New Yorkers and communities far beyond the State's borders," State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. "Under the leadership of Governor Hochul, New York State continues to lead in disease surveillance - work that is critical to responding effectively to public health threats."

The CDC's pause in testing creates vulnerabilities for states and jurisdictions that lack sufficient laboratory resources, particularly in the wake of reduced federal funding. This may delay detection of individual cases of disease or clusters, placing more communities and individuals at risk. It also weakens the national surveillance and reporting systems which is critical for planning public health interventions.

Wadsworth is recognized by the CDC and other federal agencies as a national reference center for a wide range of infectious diseases, environmental hazards, and toxicological threat testing and detection.

In 2025, the New York State Department of Health's Wadsworth Center received more than 13,000 samples from 23 states. Additional accomplishments and milestones include:

• Drug-resistant tuberculosis case in Texas - The patient was treated for TB, relapsed, and the patient specimens were referred to Wadsworth by Texas and CDC. Wadsworth identified the drug-resistance pattern which was used to successfully treat the patient and prevent spread.

• Nationwide Infant Botulism Investigation - The Wadsworth Center played a leading role in the national response to a recent outbreak of infant botulism linked to baby formula. Working closely with federal and state partners, Wadsworth scientists helped identify a critical product match to a case in Arizona - a breakthrough that enabled the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to publicly confirm the source of contamination. Both FDA and CDC expressed gratitude to the Wadsworth Center for its rapid, expert analytical support, noting that this discovery would not have been possible without the work of the Center.

• Arbovirus testing - Wadsworth has been awarded a contract as the National Reference Center for Arboviral Disease Testing from the Association of Public Health Laboratories, funded by CDC Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD). Submissions for testing will be received from state public health labs throughout the US states and territories that do not have the capacity to perform the testing themselves. The Reference Center will provide clinically validated testing with molecular and serologic methods for 15 arboviruses, including the most common endemic arboviruses as well as those predominantly seen in returning travelers, such as dengue, Zika and Chikungunya. In 2025, specimens from 71 patients were submitted for comprehensive screening by PCR and serology for a wide panel of pathogens, including Chikungunya, Dengue, West Nile virus, Powassan, Heartland, Bourbon, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, St. Louis Encephalitis, Cache Valley, Jamestown Canyon, La Crosse, Oropouche, Zika, and Yellow Fever viruses. Testing identified 21 confirmed infections across 8 states in the Northeast.

• Tick-Borne Disease Activities - The New York State Department of Health supports a coordinated and multidisciplinary approach to tick-borne diseases, integrating surveillance, research, and diagnostics. Wadsworth conducts statewide surveillance to monitor tick populations and the prevalence of tick-borne pathogens, providing critical data to inform public health response and prevention strategies.

• Influenza - Wadsworth played a critical role in the development of this year's Northern Hemisphere seasonal influenza vaccine. Wadsworth provided the sample and characterized the virus used for vaccine development using whole genome sequencing, isolated it in culture and submitted to CDC where it was used to create the influenza B component for the current influenza season. The first genomic sequences of subclade K in the U.S. National Influenza Surveillance system, as well as the first virus isolates of that subclade, were also generated by the National Influenza Reference Center (NIRC) at Wadsworth.
  Wadsworth was selected by the CDC as a National Influenza Reference Center (NIRC) and reference center for vaccine preventable viral diseases from 2025-2030.

The U.S. Reference Shared Services Testing Contract was awarded to Wadsworth to cover testing for measles, syphilis, other STI diseases, Chagas Disease and fungal infections. The contract is administered and funded by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and CDC, to support US public health laboratory services.

The Wadsworth Center focuses on a wide range of critical public health concerns, including responding to public health threats, studying emerging infections, analyzing environmental exposures, and licensing clinical and environmental laboratories, among other critical responsibilities. Since its origins in developing communicable disease treatments in 1901 and the development of the Division of Laboratories and Research in 1914, the Wadsworth Center has grown to become the largest and most comprehensive state public health laboratory in the U.S.