Outbreaks

• Former CDC chief medical officer Debra Houry links current outbreaks of measles and foodborne cyclosporiasis to significant public health funding cuts. • Houry resigned from her position one year ago to protest political interference and the leadership of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. • The current administration has reportedly slashed billions of dollars in public health funding, which Houry argues has weakened the nation's ability to manage disease.

• Recent outbreaks of measles in the US, Cyclosporiasis, and Ebola in Africa are spreading at unprecedented levels, exposing critical vulnerabilities in global public health infrastructure. • The resurgence of measles in the US has reached record levels, primarily driven by vaccine hesitancy and declining vaccination rates that have eroded herd immunity. • These concurrent crises highlight systemic failures in disease surveillance and the fragility of preventative healthcare systems worldwide.

As measles, hantavirus and cyclospora spread, experts say lost staff and expertise are slowing the responseA series of health challenges – hantavirus, screwworm, Ebola, cyclospora, measles, whooping cough, bird flu – are exposing the widening gaps in America’s ability to prevent, identify and halt infectious disease outbreaks.The rapid dismantling of the US public health system at all levels means the US is in worse shape than it was before the Covid pandemic, former top CDC officials say. Continue reading...

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says they are scouring food supply chain for culprit, which may be lettuceWhat is cyclosporiasis, the parasitic illness causing ‘explosive’ diarrhea?Federal health officials said they expect the outbreaks of cyclospora – a parasite that causes watery, explosive diarrhea – across the US to continue through August as they scour the food supply chain for the culprit.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have identified 1,645 lab-confirmed cases of the parasite; reported that 145 people have been hospitalized; and reported that they have a backlog of 5,100 cases that require more analysis, including interviews. Continue reading...

• Two peer-reviewed reports published this week analyzed measles outbreaks in Texas and South Carolina to determine the primary barriers to disease control. • The findings reveal that a lack of community trust, rather than simply low vaccination rates, serves as the central obstacle to stopping the outbreaks. • This shift in understanding suggests that public health strategies must address social trust and communication to effectively increase vaccine uptake.

• Two new reports, including one from the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, analyze the difficulties in containing recent measles outbreaks within the U.S. • The studies focus on a major outbreak that began on October 2, 2025, in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, marking the largest U.S. outbreak since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. • Researchers identified complex social and cultural barriers that hinder essential public health efforts, specifically vaccination, testing, and education.

• The U.S. federal government has implemented funding cuts and personnel downsizing within biopreparedness programs dedicated to high-consequence infectious diseases (HCID). • These reductions occur while the U.S. is actively managing threats from Ebola and a Hantavirus cluster associated with cruise ship travel. • Although existing infrastructure and protocols are currently handling these outbreaks, experts warn that diminished resources will leave the nation less prepared for future pandemics.