THURSDAY, Oct. 22, 2026 (HealthDay News) — State health officials fighting measles outbreaks this spring asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for help getting a faster test. The agency took two months to reply, then said it couldn’t help.
Officials in California and Washington wanted the CDC to validate a high-volume measles test, The New York Times reports. That kind of test can diagnose 500 cases in eight hours.
The West Coast Health Alliance — a partnership of California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii — described the delay this week in a letter to Dr. Erica Schwartz, who took over as CDC director in August.
When the CDC finally responded to the states' request, it cited other priorities, according to the letter, obtained by The Times.
The alliance urged the CDC to develop and share high-volume test protocols for measles and other dangerous germs. Fast testing can sharply limit an outbreak in its early stages, the officials wrote.
The CDC reported 4,410 confirmed measles cases as of Oct. 15, the largest U.S. measles outbreak in 35 years. Pennsylvania has reported six measles-related deaths, The Times reports.
Because the United States declared measles eliminated in 2000, no commercial rapid tests are available in the country to deliver results on the spot in a clinic or emergency department.
Instead, clinics send samples to public health labs, where experienced staff run the test. Results usually take two business days. In short-staffed states, they can take up to five.
Most of these labs bought high-volume machines during the COVID-19 pandemic. They just need a CDC-endorsed measles test to run on them.
The CDC’s own guidance says spotting cases early helps limit spread and calls lab confirmation “essential for all measles outbreaks.”
“It seems to me that it’s a fairly urgent need,” Jill Taylor, former director of the Wadsworth Center, New York State’s public health lab, told The Times.
But the CDC may not have the staff to vet a new test right now, Taylor and other experts said. The agency’s workforce has shrunk by about 30% since President Donald Trump began his second term, The Times reports.
Last year, public health labs in Texas and Utah built and validated their own measles tests during outbreaks. Any state can do that, but a CDC protocol is always useful, Scott Becker, chief executive of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, told The Times.
Taylor pushed back. Many public health labs could not build their own test and depend on a fully verified kit, she said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, didn’t answer questions about a high-volume measles test.
A spokesperson, Emily Hilliard, said in a statement that the CDC is supporting state and local measles detection and prioritizing new technologies to speed outbreak response.
More information
Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more information about measles.
SOURCES: The New York Times, Oct. 21, 2026; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oct. 16, 2026 and April 1, 2026
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