El-Sayed Wants To Investigate RFK Jr. Over Outbreak of ‘Explosive Diarrhea Parasite’

Fresh off his election victory, Michigan Democratic senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed says he wants to investigate Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to expose any government actions that led to a parasite, cyclospora, infecting thousands of people and causing them to suffer explosive diarrhea. Michigan experienced the largest outbreak of cyclosporiasis in the country. Between May and August, the state recorded more than 15,000 cases of the parasite. Nearly 21,000 cases were reported nationwide. The Michigan Democrat believes that cuts to the country’s public health agencies may be responsible for the surge in cases. Speaking to CNN on Thursday, Dr. El-Sayed said he wants to investigate Mr. Kennedy to understand the “decision-making that’s gone on and what we need to do to solve the problem.”“This is not about retribution for something past. This is about understanding what happened, holding people accountable for what they did and then solving the problem moving forward,” Dr. El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director, said. The CDC has said it traced the outbreak to processed lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico and notes that the company recalled all of its iceberg lettuce products that were sourced from Mexico. The parasite causes a gastrointestinal illness. Symptoms include abdominal pain and explosive diarrhea. The symptoms led many social media users to refer to it as the “explosive diarrhea parasite.” The CDC says most people who are infected with it recover. However, the symptoms can last for weeks and may return even after they seem to have ended. Last year, the federal government’s Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network ended mandatory reporting for six of eight pathogens, including cyclospora. That move led to suspicions that the Trump administration’s cuts to food surveillance programs prevented officials from detecting the contaminated lettuce. In July, Mr. Kennedy told reporters that the outbreak was under control and denied that any cuts were responsible for the contaminated lettuce making it to market.“Those criticisms are invalid,” he said. “We had no cuts in the surveillance program. We did cuts in the FoodNet program, but they were for redundant surveillance.” Dr. El-Sayed’s desire to investigate Mr. Kennedy comes after the two men feuded in the run-up to the November 3 election. In October, Mr. Kennedy said that Arabs “don’t produce science” and “don’t produce literature.”The secretary defended his comments in a lengthy post on X, writing that he was not criticizing “Arabs or Islam,” but instead Islamism. Dr. El-Sayed responded that he looks forward to using his time in the Senate to question Mr. Kennedy.Dr. El-Sayed is not alone in challenging Mr. Kennedy. Senator Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, who opposed his confirmation, said after Democrats attained the majority, “The time is now. RFK Jr. must resign or be fired. End of discussion.”

El-Sayed Wants To Investigate RFK Jr. Over Outbreak of ‘Explosive Diarrhea Parasite’

El-Sayed Wants To Investigate RFK Jr. Over Outbreak of ‘Explosive Diarrhea Parasite’

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