July 14 at 11:03 PM ·
RFK Jr.'s CDC faces fire as diarrhea-causing parasite outbreak explodes across America
A massive diarrhea-causing parasite outbreak is spreading across America, and RFK Jr. owns the public health disaster unfolding on his watch. The CDC is now reporting 1,645 confirmed domestic cyclosporiasis cases, 141 hospitalizations, and more than 5,100 additional cases still requiring review as the outbreak reaches dozens of states.
The timing could not be more damning for RFK Jr. because last year, his CDC scaled back the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network and made reporting optional for pathogens like Cyclospora, the very parasite now exploding across the country. Instead of strengthening the system that helps detect and track foodborne outbreaks, RFK Jr.'s CDC weakened it before Americans started getting sick.
Now federal officials are scrambling to investigate contaminated produce, including lettuce, while the case count keeps climbing and the source still has not been confirmed. This is exactly what public health experts warned about when disease surveillance gets treated like government waste instead of basic protection for American families.
RFK Jr. has spent years attacking the public health institutions Americans rely on, and now one of those systems was weakened right before a parasite outbreak spiraled into a national mess. Americans are sick, hospitals are treating patients, and the country is watching the consequences of putting conspiracy politics in charge of public health.