There has been much news about an infection by an agent called Cyclospora. This is important because it may affect our health, but also because it reveals some of the dangers confronting us following the dramatic cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Cyclospora causes prolonged watery diarrhea and can result in hospitalization for dehydration, but rarely death. The news from the CDC, as of July 27, 2026, is that with more than 6,700 confirmed cases (and an additional 11,500 unconfirmed), it is the largest outbreak in U.S. history. We usually have 3,000-4,000 cases per year, and this is only July.
The culprit is a tiny intestinal parasite that has a thick protective wall. After ingestion of the parasite, there is a lag of 10 days or more before symptoms appear. Although it results from eating food contaminated with human waste, this lag makes identification of the cause difficult. It likely comes from vegetables irrigated or washed with contaminated water. Unfortunately, rinsing and scrubbing are not a guarantee of getting rid of it, as the organism can hide in crevices.
Prevention includes avoiding bagged salads, berries, vegetable and fruit trays, etc. Buying from local farms is likely the safest approach, as the infection seems to have originated from national distributors. Cooking is effective, but that is not ideal for salad. Treatment, when needed, includes the commonly used antibiotic Bactrim. There is no person-to-person transmission.
The CDC had not published anything recent about the status of this infection until July 28, 2026. The loss of public health funding makes tracking and public education difficult. There is a team at the CDC responsible for domestic surveillance within the CDC’s Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, but DOGE (the federal Department of Government Efficiency) reduced this team from 11 to three. There was also a deliberate cut to surveillance of this infection within the CDC’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network. The CDC website basically refers readers to their state health departments. This is a good reminder of why we need a well-functioning national public health system.
Vitamin K has been in the news recently, as well. This is a vitamin essential for blood clotting, and deficiencies of vitamin K result in bleeding. It is found in green leafy vegetables like kale and Brussels sprouts, but very little goes from mother to baby during pregnancy, and there is little in breast milk. Because of the frequent deficiency of vitamin K in newborns, combined with the low level of blood-clotting factors babies have at birth, infants are susceptible to bleeding early in life. Unfortunately, this can result in serious bleeding in the brain and kidneys. Recognizing this, pediatricians started giving a shot of vitamin K in 1961 (oral K does not get into the bloodstream well enough) to all newborns and have virtually eliminated vitamin K deficiency-caused bleeding.
Recent objections to immunizations have spilled over into resistance to the administration of this potentially lifesaving medication. As a result, we have seen more cases of serious brain hemorrhage in infants, resulting in brain damage and death in the U.S. This is one medication that has had a real controlled trial, though only by an unplanned route. In England in the 1980s, they stopped giving the shot to all newborns, and they saw a significant increase in bleeds. About one in five infants who had a bleed died. As a result, they returned to routine administration to every newborn, ending the unnecessary bleeding and death.
There are other infections emerging now that may affect us. The New World screwworm is a blowfly larva that infects cattle. After a period when we thought it was defeated, it is now returning. Measles, which we had all but eliminated, is now on the rise, with the known associated risks of pneumonia, brain damage, hospitalization and death increasing in the U.S. There has been no change in the virus, just a decrease in the number of people being immunized.
Unfortunately, the leader of HHS is not a physician and has said under oath that he does not believe in the germ theory of disease, so we are likely to see more problems like this in the near future. Stay tuned.
Consenstein lives in Fayston and is a retired physician.
