The Trump administration is halting federal research on the foodborne parasite Cyclospora despite a record-breaking nationwide outbreak, Politico reports. Two of three USDA research programs on Cyclospora have been defunded, and the third faces total staff loss as the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center near Washington, DC, closes and relocates to Iowa. Insiders say none of the parasitologists plan to move, leaving a "big knowledge gap" as they retire, transfer, or leave the agency.

The US faces its largest Cyclospora outbreak ever, with the CDC tallying nearly 30,000 confirmed and probable cases this summer. At least 922 hospitalizations and two deaths have been reported. Since 2018, annual cases typically ranged from 2,000 to 5,000.

Cyclospora is uniquely difficult to study: it grows only in the human gut, not in labs, and is shed intermittently, requiring repeat fecal samples. Its large genome makes sequencing costlier than for bacteria like E. coli or Salmonella, and sexual reproduction creates genetic diversity that complicates tracing contamination to a single food source.