Trump’s blunders advance deadly diarrhea, whooping cough & measles

The return of measles, the resurgence of whooping cough, and the explosive, potentially deadly diarrhea from a massive cyclosporiasis outbreak are not acts of God—they are the direct and predictable results of the Republican administration’s willful dismantling of American public health, led by President Donald Trump and his anti-vaccine crusader, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

It was a victory hard-won and long celebrated, the eradication of measles from the United States in the year 2000. For a quarter-century, that status stood as a testament to the power of science and public will. Today, that achievement is a memory, a historical footnote in a country that is rapidly becoming a cautionary tale for the world.

The return of measles is not an accident of nature; it is a policy choice, a direct consequence of a leadership that has systematically dismantled the very infrastructure built to protect us. And now, alongside the resurgence of this ancient scourge, Americans are facing a new and grim reality: an epidemic of explosive, watery diarrhea caused by a parasite our own government stopped tracking, all while whooping cough surges to levels not seen in a decade.

The numbers tell a story of cascading failure. In 2025, the United States recorded more than 2,200 confirmed measles cases — the highest annual total in over three decades and the first measles-related deaths in 10 years. The momentum has only accelerated. By mid-2026, the U.S. had already surpassed 2,000 cases, nearly matching the entire previous year’s total in just half the time.

The virus, which thrives in communities where vaccination rates have dipped below the critical 95% immunity threshold, is finding fertile ground. Kindergarten vaccination coverage for the MMR vaccine has dropped from 95.2% in the 2019-2020 school year to 92.5%. It is a seemingly small decline with devastating consequences, a slow-motion collapse of the community immunity that once kept our children safe.

These are not mere statistics; they are outbreaks tearing through classrooms and hospitals. The U.S. is now expected to lose its measles elimination status, a humiliating setback that will echo through global public health. The virus is spreading in 28 states. And at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services stands Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a man whose long history of spreading anti-vaccine misinformation has now been transformed from rhetoric into policy. His hand-picked panels have worked to undercut access to vaccines, and he has downplayed the severity of outbreaks while his agency has been gutted. This is not leadership; it is willful negligence.

The same story is unfolding with whooping cough. Preliminary data shows that in 2025, there were nearly 29,000 cases of pertussis, the highest number since 2012, and 16 related deaths. Children, especially infants too young to be fully vaccinated, are paying the price with their health and their lives. It is a predictable outcome when a government elevates skepticism over science and allows vaccine-preventable diseases to run rampant.

But perhaps the most grotesque symbol of this administration’s incompetence and its contempt for the health of the American people is the cyclosporiasis outbreak. As of July 14, 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 1,645 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis, a gastrointestinal illness caused by the microscopic parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis. The agency is aware of more than 5,100 additional cases that require further analysis. This is a staggering increase from the 249 cases reported by the same time in 2025. The true number of infections is certainly far higher, as the disease is notoriously underdiagnosed and underreported.

The symptoms are as unpleasant as they are debilitating. As Dr. Dana Supe of Virtua Health explained, the parasite causes inflammatory changes in the intestines, leading to “explosive watery diarrhea.” The infection can lead to severe dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, and acute kidney injury, particularly in the very young, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. It is an illness that can send people to the hospital; of the confirmed cases, 141 people — 9% — have been hospitalized. The CDC map shows infections in 34 states, with Michigan alone reporting more than 3,300 cases. And the source of this misery remains a mystery, with investigators probing a possible link to a major fast-food chain.

How did we get here? The answer lies in a series of deliberate, ideologically driven decisions. In July 2025, the CDC, under the direction of the Trump administration and HHS Secretary Kennedy, quietly scaled back its Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet). Required monitoring was cut from eight foodborne pathogens to just two. Among the six pathogens made optional was cyclospora. “Funding has not kept pace with the resources required to maintain the continuation of FoodNet surveillance for all eight pathogens,” a CDC talking point read at the time. It was a lie that served as a pretext for neglect. As Craig Hedberg, a professor at the University of Minnesota, noted, “The disturbing thing about cutting FoodNet funds is that it normalizes the idea that foodborne disease surveillance is expensive and unimportant.”

This was not an isolated cut. It was part of a systemic dismantling. The administration proposed a nearly 44% reduction to the CDC’s budget. By the end of 2025, one-quarter of the CDC’s workforce had been let go. The very scientists and epidemiologists who track outbreaks, who trace contaminated produce, and who sound the alarm were fired or reassigned. Dr. Omer Awan of the University of Maryland School of Medicine told PBS that “mass firings at the US Department of Health and Human Services…were hindering CDC’s ability to track the disease.” He pointed out that the CDC made reporting cyclosporiasis optional.

The parallels to the botched response to the coronavirus pandemic that defined Trump’s first term are inescapable. Then, as now, a lack of coordination, a disdain for expertise, and a profound failure of leadership cost American lives. Among his first acts upon returning to the White House was to issue an executive order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization, severing ties with the very global network designed to prevent pandemics. The pattern is consistent: when faced with a public health crisis, this administration chooses to look away, to defund the watchmen, and to leave the American people to fend for themselves.

The MAGA Republicans have not simply failed to protect the American people; they have actively made the country sicker. They have unleashed a trifecta of preventable diseases upon the nation. They have returned measles from the history books to the pediatric ward, they have allowed whooping cough to resurge, and now they have brought us a national outbreak of an intestinal parasite that causes explosive diarrhea. It is a national disgrace, a public health catastrophe born of willful ignorance and a cruel indifference to human suffering. The truth is as simple as it is devastating: the Trump team is incompetent and, in its calculated dismantling of our public health defenses, profoundly uncaring. The stench of this failure is not just metaphorical; for thousands of Americans, it is all too real.