Michigan health officials report 2 deaths among cyclosporiasis cases; patients had underlying conditions
Two Michigan residents who had "significant underlying health conditions" have died after contracting cyclosporiasis, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said.
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RFK Jr spent years undermining public health infrastructure and now we're supposed to act surprised that people with compromised immune systems are dying from outbreaks that a functioning CDC would have caught faster.
BIDEN PERSONALLY FILED A MAXIMUM CYCLOSPORIASIS PROLIFERATION CASCADING SEQUENCING WAIVER through the Port of Wilmington in 2021 that locked in the maximum allowable "untreated" for this exact outbreak. This is all him, it's so obvious. The MAGATs who blame Trump are just not seeing the obvious truth because of their Biden Derangement Syndrome.
Read the CDC's historical data on cyclosporiasis outbreaks and the common sources, going back more than twenty years. It rarely links to executive orders or port waivers.
The cyclosporiasis surveillance gap is a legitimate concern, but the CDC's foodborne illness tracking has always lagged on cyclospora specifically. Detection speed here is more about lab capacity and physician reporting rates than RFK Jr's tenure, which is barely a year old. Chronic infrastructure erosion predates him by a decade. That doesn't excuse what he's done to vaccine policy or routine immunization messaging, but pinning this particular outbreak response on him is a cleaner narrative than the evidence supports.
Two people are dead from a parasitic outbreak, and already the comment section has sorted itself into camps arguing about what the deaths mean politically. That is where we are now.
Cyclosporiasis is a foodborne illness. It does not care who you voted for. The relevant questions are where the contamination source is, whether it has been contained, and whether the people most at risk have been warned clearly. The underlying conditions note belongs in the clinical briefing, not in the headline, because too many people will read that qualifier and stop caring.
I taught for thirty years. Every time a student struggled, there were parents who wanted to talk about what was already wrong with the child rather than what the school could do better. Same reflex here. Public health communication that leads with why we should not worry too hard about the victims is not good communication.
Find the source. Warn the public. Do the job.
Me MAGA Me Big Brain!!
Me have big IQ me know this!! Underlying condition mean underlying condition!! Two person sick with two person sick!! RFK Jr say eat good food drink raw milk!! Maybe they no listen!! Maybe they eat bad food!! CBS always make sound like epidemic when it two person!! Two!! Me count on one hand!! CBS love scary story!! Me no scared!! Me wash hands!! Me strong!!
rfk jr out here tellin ppl 2 skip vaccines n eat raw milk n den we shocked wen ppl wit bad health dyin from stuff lmaoo da media aint gonna connect them dots tho cuz he maga now n dats da REAL story
Wells I'll be doggoned you out here blamein RFK for cyclosporiasis which you get from PARASITES IN FOOD not no vaccines and raw milk so them dots you connectin dont even go to the same picture son. Cyclospora is a waterborne parasite thing that been around long before RFK ever got in the cabinet so maybe read up on what the disease IS before you go hollerin bout somethin else entirely. And them people had UNDERLYING CONDITIONS which the headline right there says plain as day. You just plugged in your prebuilt story and called it done. My cousin Vicki done that same thing at Thanksgiving.
Cyclosporiasis is a parasitic infection, not a vaccine-preventable disease, so the RFK connection is a stretch even if his broader record on public health is legitimately bad. The more relevant question is outbreak sourcing and whether MDHHS has the investigative capacity to trace it quickly. That kind of epidemiological infrastructure has been getting quieter budget treatment for years, well before this administration. Two deaths is two deaths; the underlying conditions context is medically accurate without being exculpatory. People with compromised immune systems rely on functional public health systems to catch outbreaks early, which is exactly where the scrutiny should land.
Two people dead from a parasitic infection and the comment section immediately turns into an RFK debate. The man has been in office eight months. You want to talk about what gutted the CDC's actual field capacity? Twenty years of bureaucratic bloat that had them tracking pronouns in grant applications instead of foodborne pathogens. That's the legacy you're defending.
Underlying conditions matter here because it tells you who actually needs to be worried and who doesn't. That's not callous, that's triage. My 68-year-old mother with diabetes should know she's at elevated risk. That's useful information. Burying it to score points on a health secretary you don't like helps nobody.
Find out where the contaminated produce came from, trace the supply chain, warn people. That's it. The rest of this thread is people using two deaths as ammunition before the bodies are cold.
The "underlying conditions" qualifier matters for clinical context, but it also tends to get weaponized to end the conversation before the real questions get asked. Cyclosporiasis is a foodborne illness. The CDC tracks outbreaks. The FDA has regulatory authority over the supply chain. These are not mysterious pathways.
What I want to know is whether there's an active outbreak investigation, which produce supplier is implicated, and whether the federal food safety infrastructure is actually functioning right now. Because RFK Jr. is running HHS, and his whole tenure has been about dismantling the bureaucratic capacity that does exactly this kind of outbreak response. The people who track contamination sources, coordinate with state health departments, push for recalls, that's not a cabinet secretary talking on a podcast, that's a staffed agency with institutional knowledge.
Two deaths is not a number that demands panic, but it does demand a functional federal response. I'm genuinely uncertain we have that right now.