Epic diarrhea outbreak has 40% of Americans avoiding fruits and veggies
Epic diarrhea outbreak has 40% of Americans avoiding fruits and veggies
严重的腹泻疫情导致 40% 的美国人开始避开水果和蔬菜
Anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made it one of his top priorities to convince Americans to “eat real food,” including more fresh fruits and vegetables. But, it’s a hard sell when those real foods are causing real eruptions of explosive diarrhea across the country. 反疫苗立场的卫生部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy Jr.）已将说服美国人“吃真正的食物”（包括更多新鲜水果和蔬菜）作为其首要任务之一。然而，当这些“真正的食物”正在全国范围内引发严重的爆发性腹泻时，这一主张变得难以推行。
The Food and Drug Administration is investigating six outbreaks of foodborne diarrheal illnesses caused by Cyclospora, a unicellular parasite known for spreading from human feces onto fresh produce. Past outbreaks have been linked to leafy greens, fresh basil, fresh cilantro, snow peas, green onions, and raspberries. 美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）目前正在调查六起由圆孢子虫（Cyclospora）引起的食源性腹泻疾病疫情。这是一种单细胞寄生虫，以通过人类粪便污染新鲜农产品而闻名。过去的疫情曾与绿叶蔬菜、新鲜罗勒、新鲜香菜、荷兰豆、青葱和覆盆子有关。
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tallied a record high of over 11,500 confirmed and probable cases across 41 states, with over 300 requiring hospitalization. And that case total is almost certainly an undercount. 美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）统计显示，全美 41 个州已记录了超过 11,500 例确诊和疑似病例，创下历史新高，其中超过 300 人需要住院治疗。而且，这一病例总数几乎可以肯定是低估了。
The largest of the outbreaks is linked to Taylor Farms’ iceberg lettuce that was sold at Taco Bell restaurants and many other companies. The outbreak has sickened thousands of people across nine states, up from five states identified last week. One of the affected states is Michigan, which alone has reported 9,253 cases as of July 27. The other five outbreaks have no identified source. 规模最大的一起疫情与 Taylor Farms 公司供应的冰山生菜有关，这些生菜曾在塔可钟（Taco Bell）餐厅及许多其他公司销售。该疫情已导致九个州的数千人患病，高于上周确定的五个州。受影响的州之一是密歇根州，仅该州截至 7 月 27 日就报告了 9,253 例病例。其余五起疫情尚未查明来源。
Given the situation, it’s no surprise that a CBS News poll over the weekend found that about 40 percent of Americans are now buying or eating less produce amid the outbreak. Only 4 percent reported they were following Kennedy’s guidance of eating more. The finding appears to be a setback to Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, which has typically focused on overhauling nutrition guidance while neglecting food safety and infectious diseases. 鉴于这种情况，CBS 新闻周末的一项民意调查发现，约 40% 的美国人因疫情而减少了农产品的购买或食用，这并不令人意外。只有 4% 的受访者表示他们正在遵循肯尼迪的建议多吃蔬果。这一调查结果似乎对肯尼迪的“让美国再次健康”（Make America Healthy Again）议程造成了打击，该议程通常侧重于彻底改革营养指南，却忽视了食品安全和传染病问题。
Under Kennedy’s leadership, the FDA and CDC have both suffered draconian budget cuts and been drained of experienced career staff who know best how to identify, respond to, and effectively inform the public about such outbreaks. The CDC has lost about 25 percent of its staff, while FDA is down about 20 percent, CBS has reported. Last year, the FDA also announced that it was delaying a new rule on food traceability, which would have made it easier for FDA investigators to identify and remove from the market foods linked to illnesses, such as Taylor Farms’ lettuce. 据 CBS 报道，在肯尼迪的领导下，FDA 和 CDC 都遭受了严厉的预算削减，并流失了大量经验丰富的职业员工，而这些人最清楚如何识别、应对此类疫情并有效地向公众通报。CDC 失去了约 25% 的员工，FDA 的员工人数也减少了约 20%。去年，FDA 还宣布推迟一项关于食品可追溯性的新规定，该规定本可以使 FDA 调查人员更容易识别并从市场上撤下与疾病相关的食品，例如 Taylor Farms 的生菜。
“Catastrophic” mismanagement
“灾难性”的管理不善
Last week, Kennedy claimed that the Cyclospora surge was “under control,” but critics and former FDA officials have scoffed at the statement. “If history is any judge, when the Trump administration declares a crisis ‘under control’, it’s time to brace for the worst yet to come,” Brad Woodhouse, president of the public health nonprofit Protect Our Care, said in a statement. 上周，肯尼迪声称圆孢子虫疫情“已得到控制”，但批评人士和前 FDA 官员对此嗤之以鼻。公共卫生非营利组织 Protect Our Care 的主席布拉德·伍德豪斯（Brad Woodhouse）在一份声明中表示：“如果历史可以作为参考，当特朗普政府宣布危机‘已得到控制’时，就是时候为即将到来的最坏情况做好准备了。”
Frank Yiannas, who served as FDA’s deputy commissioner for food policy and response in the first Trump administration and under Biden appeared equally skeptical. Yiannas has publicly called for an independent investigation into the federal government’s handling of the Cyclospora outbreaks. “This one deserves a lot of questions, and it is starting to approach a catastrophic level in terms of how mismanaged it’s been on multiple fronts,” Yiannas told Politico. 曾在特朗普第一任期和拜登政府时期担任 FDA 食品政策与应对副局长的弗兰克·亚纳斯（Frank Yiannas）也持同样的怀疑态度。亚纳斯公开呼吁对联邦政府处理圆孢子虫疫情的方式进行独立调查。亚纳斯告诉《政客》（Politico）杂志：“这件事值得提出很多质疑，从多个方面的管理不善来看，它已经开始接近灾难性的水平。”
As examples of the mismanagement, Yiannas noted the outbreak’s extreme size—already well over double the typical number of cases seen in recent years—as well as mixed messaging and confusion among consumers. He also said there was a “lack of strong federal leadership.” 作为管理不善的例子，亚纳斯指出了疫情的极端规模——病例数已远超近年来典型病例数的两倍——以及信息混乱和消费者困惑。他还表示，政府“缺乏强有力的联邦领导”。
Susan Mayne, who served as director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition from 2015 to 2023, said the explosive outbreak was a “wake-up call” on the interconnectedness of food safety and nutrition. In an op-ed published in Stat, she noted seeing people online turning to processed foods that they now considered safer than salads and produce—such as pizza, bagged chips, and store-bought cookies—foods Kennedy has tried to steer Americans away from. 2015 年至 2023 年担任 FDA 食品安全与应用营养中心主任的苏珊·梅恩（Susan Mayne）表示，这次爆发性疫情是对食品安全与营养之间相互联系的“警钟”。在《Stat》发表的一篇评论文章中，她指出，看到网上有人转向他们认为比沙拉和农产品更安全的加工食品——如披萨、袋装薯片和商店购买的饼干——而这些正是肯尼迪一直试图引导美国人远离的食物。
But “Oreos never gave me explosive diarrhea!” one person said, according to Mayne. “Consumers should not be faced with a trade-off between nutrition and food safety—health is made possible when food safety supports consumer confidence in fruits and vegetables,” Mayne wrote. “‘Real foods’ are vulnerable to real pathogens.” 据梅恩称，有人说：“奥利奥从来没让我得过爆发性腹泻！”梅恩写道：“消费者不应该在营养和食品安全之间做出权衡——只有当食品安全支撑起消费者对水果和蔬菜的信心时，健康才有可能实现。‘真正的食物’也容易受到真实病原体的侵害。”