SerpApi.Org
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., sent a letter on July 16 to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
He blamed Kennedy’s choice to end mandatory federal tracking of a parasite for a nationwide outbreak that has sickened thousands since May.
“Now a cyclosporiasis outbreak sweeps the nation,” Ossoff wrote. “Your foolish and selfish decision to dismantle critical public health programs puts Americans at risk.”
More than 1,600 cases of cyclosporiasis have been confirmed across the country, and over 100 people have been hospitalized, according to Ossoff’s letter.
Thousands more cases are being investigated in at least 34 states, including Georgia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that there are more than 7,000 confirmed and suspected cases.
No deaths have been reported, and the U.S. typically has about 250 cyclosporiasis cases each year.
Cyclospora cayetanensis, the tiny parasite that causes the illness, spreads through food or water contaminated with human waste, often during irrigation or washing produce.
Infections lead to frequent and sometimes severe bowel movements, nausea, cramps, bloating, and low-grade fever, according to the CDC. Cases usually peak between May and August.
Ossoff’s letter focuses on FoodNet, the Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network that the CDC, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, and 10 state health departments run together.
Tracking cyclospora was mandatory under this program since 1997. In July 2025, HHS made reporting optional for six of the eight pathogens monitored by FoodNet, keeping only salmonella and E. coli under mandatory surveillance.
Ossoff asked Kennedy if the cyclospora tracking requirement had been reinstated, why it was removed, and what the current efforts are to identify the outbreak’s source. HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the letter.
“The CDC had a long-standing program called FoodNet to track cyclospora, and last year Robert F. Kennedy shut that down as he tried to dismantle the CDC,” Ossoff said. “Now we have cyclospora spreading across the country with very little understanding of the outbreak’s origins.”
Dr. Dan Jernigan, a former CDC infectious diseases director, told ABC News that FoodNet had faced chronic underfunding before last year’s change.
He said it is hard to pinpoint how that decision affected the current outbreak. He noted that staffing shortages have limited the CDC’s ability to respond on a large scale.
“This is a big cyclospora outbreak, and it requires a lot of people to be involved,” Jernigan said. “The staffing cuts, the 25 percent reduction at the CDC, don’t help when you need a significant response.”
Jernigan mentioned that the agency has drawn staff from its parasitic disease and malaria programs during past outbreaks, and those programs lost funding after cuts to U.S. Agency for International Development transfers.
The CDC’s workforce shrank by about a quarter in 2025 due to job cuts.
The outbreak has been reported in states such as Michigan and Colorado, both of which have also reduced state-level surveillance funding.
