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In Minnesota, Brainerd is best known as lake country’s unofficial capital and home to an acclaimed motorsports race track.
But in medical circles, this Crow Wing County community has a much less pleasant connotation. The reason: In the early 1980s, 122 residents were sickened with a “previously undescribed chronic diarrhea syndrome” that lasted “at least a year” for 75% of those affected. A 1986 medical journal article makes clear this is something you do not want to get, with the condition characterized by “acute onset, marked urgency, a lack of systemic symptoms and a failure of response to antimicrobial agents.”
Brainerd isn’t the only place where people have become ill with this explosive illness. But because the city was the first place an outbreak was reported, the condition is now infamously known as “Brainerd Diarrhea.”
I hesitated to bring up this bit of state history because of the yuck factor. But it’s relevant at this moment because another important detail about Brainerd Diarrhea illustrates why Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is such a shocking pick to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) during President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.
That detail: Brainerd Diarrhea is associated with drinking “raw milk,” which hasn’t been pasteurized to kill potential disease-causing pathogens.
Some believe raw milk can cure many diseases despite warnings from experts about its dangers. Unfortunately, Kennedy is a prominent raw milk advocate, and he’s now just a U.S. Senate confirmation away from leading HHS, which is effectively the world’s largest public health organization.