{"id":30346,"date":"2026-07-20T11:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&p=30346"},"modified":"2026-07-20T11:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:58:08","slug":"amidst-cyclospora-parasite-outbreak-sen-ossoff-slams-hhs-secretary-kennedy-for-canceling-cdcs-monitoring-of-cyclosporiasis-parasite","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/amidst-cyclospora-parasite-outbreak-sen-ossoff-slams-hhs-secretary-kennedy-for-canceling-cdcs-monitoring-of-cyclosporiasis-parasite\/","title":{"rendered":"Amidst Cyclospora Parasite Outbreak, Sen. Ossoff Slams HHS Secretary Kennedy for Canceling CDC\u2019s Monitoring of Cyclosporiasis Parasite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. <\/strong>\u2014 Amidst the current parasite outbreak, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is slamming HHS Secretary Kennedy for canceling the CDC\u2019s required surveillance of the Cyclosporiasis parasite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a new letter, Sen. Ossoff slammed<\/a> U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for terminating<\/a> the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC\u2019s) Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) surveillance<\/a> of Cyclospora cayetanensis, the parasite responsible for cyclosporiasis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to recent reports<\/a>, cyclosporiasis has been identified in more than 1,600 confirmed cases, with more than 100 people hospitalized and thousands of cases<\/a> being investigated across 34 states, including Georgia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLast year, you terminated the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC\u2019s) Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) required surveillance of Cyclospora cayetanensis, the parasite responsible for cyclosporiasis. And now a cyclosporiasis outbreak sweeps the nation,\u201d Sen. Ossoff wrote to HHS Secretary RFK Jr.<\/strong>\u201cYour foolish and self-indulgent demolition of critical public health programs puts Americans at risk. The Trump Administration is actively undermining food safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff continues working to protect public health, the CDC, and its workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April, Sens. Ossoff and Rev. Warnock demanded answers<\/a> from HHS Secretary RFK Jr. after reports that the CDC Atlanta Campus is still in need of repairs and improvements following last year\u2019s shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, Sen. Ossoff worked with Republicans and Democrats to ensure<\/a> the CDC receives crucial funding to protect the American people, successfully defeating the Trump Administration\u2019s proposed 50% cut in funding for the CDC in the FY26 budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last October, Sen. Ossoff led Georgia\u2019s Democratic Congressional Delegation in calling on<\/a> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to answer for the chaos and disruption at the CDC that has marked his tenure, including the firings of CDC employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last June, Sen. Ossoff spoke<\/a> in the Appropriations Committee markup of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education funding bill about bipartisan efforts to protect the CDC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also in June, Sen. Ossoff demanded<\/a> answers from the Trump Administration following an NPR report<\/a> that the CDC Program to prevent fentanyl overdoses had been frozen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, Sen. Ossoff and other members of Congress demanded<\/a> that the Trump Administration provide answers on the reported shutdown<\/a> of a critical Maternal Health data system at the CDC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> to read Sens. Ossoff\u2019s inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

# # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2014 Amidst the current parasite outbreak, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is slamming HHS Secretary Kennedy for canceling the CDC\u2019s required surveillance of the Cyclosporiasis parasite. In a new letter, Sen. Ossoff slammed U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for terminating the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC\u2019s) Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30346","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/30346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/30346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30347,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/30346\/revisions\/30347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}