The United States under Trump-appointed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is currently experiencing major public health crises, including record-high measles cases, an outbreak of a parasite that causes explosive diarrhea, and potential salmonella contamination that led to a recall of nearly two million egg cartons.
Numbers released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday revealed that there have been 2,318 recorded cases of measles this year, the highest number of cases recorded since the virus was declared eliminated in the country more than two decades ago.
Some public health experts who spoke with The New York Times said that lower uptake of the measles vaccine was to blame for the outbreak.
Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, told the Times that “this is just going to keep happening” in the US unless vaccination rates improve.
“It’s going to mean living in a perpetual state of vulnerability and risk until we get vaccination levels up,” Nuzzo emphasized.
Dr. Jonathan Temte, a former chairman of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, placed blame for the outbreaks on the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the leadership of Kennedy, who prior to becoming America’s top public health official was best known as an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.
“We have seen virtually no national messaging," said Temte. “We’ve seen no ad campaigns… I think that really tells us something about their priorities.”
Brad Woodhouse, president of Protect Our Care, also slammed Kennedy’s leadership at NHS, accusing him and President Donald Trump of being on “a suicide mission to scare America families away from vaccines without cause or evidence.”
“What they’ve accomplished is a huge dip in vaccination rates and the worst measles crisis in 35 years,” Woodhouse added. “While the nation’s measles elimination status is doomed, the Trump CDC apparently has not spent a dime on public service ads promoting the one thing that will get us out of the woods: the measles vaccine.”
Measles isn’t the only disease spreading throughout the country, as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Friday that “four new states… are now considered part” of the outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a foodborne illness that causes explosive diarrhea.
The FDA has said that iceberg lettuce sourced from Taylor Farms de Mexico is likely the source of the outbreak, which so far has led to nearly 2,000 infections and almost 100 hospitalizations.
News about the continued spread of the outbreak came two days after the FDA revealed it was investigating another potential source of cyclospora, the parasitic bacteria that causes cyclosporiasis.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who earlier this week demanded answers from Kennedy about his decision to terminate the CDC’s previously required surveillance of cyclospora, sent the HHS secretary a letter on Friday ripping his leadership of the department.
“Your silence amidst an ongoing outbreak of diarrheal disease,” Ossoff wrote, “is indicative of the reckless arrogance with which you demolished America’s public health defense.”
Woodhouse, in a statement released Thursday, noted that Kennedy had declared the outbreak “under control” this week even though federal data shows it growing.
“If history is any judge, when the Trump administration declares a crisis ‘under control’, it’s time to brace for the worst yet to come,” said Woodhouse.
The FDA also announced on Wednesday that Midwest Poultry Services was voluntarily recalling nearly 1.6 million cartons of eggs over potential contamination by the bacteria salmonella.
As the FDA noted, salmonella infections often result in a number of unpleasant conditions, including “fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.”
Economist Dean Baker summed up the current situation in the US in a Friday social media post: “War, diarrhea, measles, and now salmonella, that’s pretty damn MAGA!”
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