The official numbers are a lie. Or at least, a massive undercount.
Right now, the United States is riding the crest of a wave that isn’t supposed to exist anymore. It’s not measles, though that’s rising fast too. It’s not a new strain of flu. It’s cyclosporiasis. And the story behind it is messier, sadder, and more bureaucratic than the headlines suggest.
The Math Doesn’t Add Up
Let’s be clear: if you think you have it, you probably do.
The symptoms are specific enough to make you miserable but vague enough to make you wait three days before calling your doctor. Explosive diarrhea. Fatigue. That specific brand of cramping that feels like your gut is being wrung out like a wet towel.
But the data suggests we are seeing the tip of a very large iceberg.
“Based on simple math, these outbreak responses… are going to be greatly diminished.”
Those aren’t just the words of a frustrated epidemiologist. That’s what the former director of the CDC’s Cyclospora lab told WIRED after the agency’s dedicated testing capacity was slashed.
Here is the reality check: Cyclospora isn’t contagious person-to-person. You can’t catch it from your neighbor at the grocery store. You catch it from contaminated food, usually leafy greens or fruits, washed in tainted water or handled by infected workers. The parasite lives in the environment. It survives in water. And it is currently moving through the American food supply with alarming ease.
Why is it so hard to track? Because most people don’t get tested. They suffer in silence for two weeks, blame the restaurant, and assume it was just “bad sushi.” Meanwhile, the cases pile up. The clusters go unnoticed. By the time public health officials realize there’s a pattern, the trail has gone cold.
The Lab That Got Cut
This brings us to the elephant in the room: DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) and the downsizing of the CDC’s Cyclosporia lab.
It happened last year. A simple reduction in staff, equipment, and funding. To an outsider, it might look like bureaucratic housekeeping. To a scientist who actually tracks these outbreaks, it looks like self-sabotage.
Testing for Cyclospora isn’t straightforward. You need specialized microscopy. You need trained eyes. You need a lab that isn’t also drowning in duties to test for everything else under the sun. When you cut the specific capacity for one pathogen, you don’t just save money. You blind yourself.
“Official case counts likely capture only a fraction.”
When the lab’s capacity is diminished, the response is diminished. And when the response is slow, the outbreak spreads. It’s basic physics applied to public health. You can’t stop a wave by ignoring the tide.
Why Lettuce Keeps Getting People Sick
If you are asking why lettuce is always making people sick, the answer isn’t complicated, even if it is frustrating. Leafy greens are high-risk. They are harvested by hand. They are often eaten raw. There is no cooking step to kill the parasite.
Cyclospora is endemic in many parts of the world, but it crops up in the US in seasonal bursts, usually tied to imported produce or domestic outbreaks following heavy rains that wash contaminants into water sources. This isn’t an isolated incident. It is part of a repeating pattern of leafy greens wreaking havoc on digestive systems.
The anxiety is spreading as fast as the parasite. People are terrified. And rightly so. But the fear is misdirected. It’s not about avoiding salads forever. It’s about realizing that the system designed to protect you is currently on a budget cut.
The Other Threats Lurking in the Shadows
While we obsess over the diarrhea outbreak, the landscape is shifting.
Measles is back. And not in a subtle way. We are looking at the highest case numbers in decades. Vaccination rates are slipping. And researchers are frantically developing drugs to treat those who contract the virus, because we have run out of patience for “just getting vaccinated.” It’s a reactive posture. Desperate.
Contagious cancer has been identified in North American catfish. Yes, a cancer that spreads from fish to fish. It’s the first known instance of this in freshwater environments, found in a lake that spans the border between the US and Canada. It’s a biological oddity that shouldn’t be possible, yet here we are. It serves as a reminder that nature is still figuring out the rules as it goes.
And for those of you trying
