The country is in the midst of a nationwide outbreak of explosive diarrhea caused by a parasite the CDC stopped surveilling at the federal level in July 2025.
That’s around the same time the Trump administration began haphazardly attacking and defunding federal health and science agencies under the guise of “government efficiency,” with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. separately also pushing out critical federal scientists and researchers.
Prior to that date, a collaborative CDC program called FoodNet helped federal and state regulators track eight foodborne pathogens.
Among them was cyclospora, a heat-loving spherical parasite that’s sickened 1,000 people in an ongoing outbreak in Michigan (the state’s worst), with similar illnesses cropping up in 28 other states.
In addition to cyclospora, surveillance of campylobacter, listeria, shigella, vibrio and Yersinia was cut. FoodNet now only regularly monitors two diseases: Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.
A list of CDC talking points seen by NBC News last summer clearly blamed funding for the program’s drastic cutback.
“Funding has not kept pace with the resources required to maintain the continuation of FoodNet surveillance for all eight pathogens,” the talking point read.
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A CDC spokesperson at the time downplayed the cuts to NBC and suggested state health departments could pick up the slack. The CDC did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment late Friday.
Colorado, one of the participating states, said that absent funding it would correspondingly cut back its surveillance. The state is now experiencing a cyclospora outbreak of its own.
“I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy,” Reba Pousma, a Denver resident who likely has cyclospora, told CBS. “I’m on day five now of going to the bathroom over 40 times a day, and nothing has been solid.”
Craig Hedberg, PhD, a professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Minnesota, disagreed with the CDC’s claim that FoodNet was duplicative.
“The disturbing thing about cutting FoodNet funds is that it normalizes the idea that foodborne disease surveillance is expensive and unimportant,” Hedberg told the school’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. “In fact, it is the foundation of our food safety system, and needs further investments, not restrictions.”
In addition to the ongoing cyclospora outbreak, Trump administration cutbacks made under the guise of “government efficiency” also brought back a flesh-eating parasite that favors cattle, accidentally fired scientists managing the bird flu outbreak, accidentally fired the FDA’s medical device reviewers, and pulled research funding to protect pregnant women from domestic violence, among other things.
