War's Hidden Pandemic Threat: How RFK Jr. Has Left America Defenseless

Disease Outbreaks Go Hand in Hand with War.

With the United States now entering direct conflict with Iran and facing what could escalate into a major world engagement of military force, we must consider war's pandemic threats more acutely than ever before. Armed conflicts create ideal conditions for pandemic emergence and spread, representing one of the most significant but underrecognized threats to global health security. The systematic destruction of health infrastructure, mass displacement of populations, and breakdown of disease surveillance systems during warfare provides the perfect environment for infectious diseases to emerge, mutate, and spread across international borders. Yet at this critical moment in global history, when conflicts rage from Ukraine to the Middle East, America has systematically dismantled the very public health infrastructure designed to detect and respond to these emerging threats.

The cholera outbreak in Ukraine's conflict zones demonstrates this reality in stark terms. When the water treatment plant in Mariupol was destroyed in early 2022, over 400,000 people suddenly lacked access to clean water. Sewage systems failed, forcing families to use contaminated sources. Within weeks, waterborne diseases began spreading through displacement camps and besieged neighborhoods, with cases documented across eastern Ukraine's conflict-affected regions. This is precisely the type of emerging health threat that requires robust international surveillance and rapid response capabilities—capabilities that the United States has now severely compromised.