US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said he is in “good health” following reports that he contracted a brain parasite more than a decade ago.
The New York Times reported that Kennedy also previously suffered from mercury poisoning and heart disease.
Mr. Kennedy has made health a key part of his campaign.
He has compared his physical fitness to Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
“Questioning Mr. Kennedy’s health is an odd proposition given his competition,” his campaign said in a statement Wednesday.
“Mr. Kennedy traveled extensively in Africa, South America, and Asia in his environmental advocacy work, and in one of those travels he contracted the parasite,” the campaign said.
“This issue was resolved over 10 years ago and he is in good physical and mental health.”
A New York Times report, based on a divorce affidavit, said Mr. Kennedy experienced severe memory loss and brain fog in 2010.
He sought treatment and said in a deposition two years later that a doctor told him the problem “could be caused by an insect that got into his brain and ate some of it.” Ta.
Parasites do not feed on brain tissue, experts say, but this idea is a non-medical and layperson’s understanding of how parasites can affect the central nervous system if they invade the central nervous system. .
Dr. Philip Budge, associate professor of infectious diseases at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said the parasite’s larvae can migrate to the brain and form cysts, a condition known as neurocysticercosis.
“The cyst does not absorb brain tissue, it simply creates space for the parasite to live,” Dr. Budge said, noting that it can displace small parts of the brain.
“Cysts can occur in many different places in the body. Unless they occur in the brain, they usually don’t cause any problems,” he said.
And the effects of brain parasites vary depending on where they end up. “It’s like real estate. It’s all about location, location, location.”
“I don’t know of any cases where parasites have affected cognitive function,” says Dr. Arnab Chatterjee, associate director of medicinal chemistry at the Antiviral Drugs and Pandemic Preparedness Center in La Jolla, California.
Neither Dr. Budge nor Dr. Chatterjee had ever treated Mr. Kennedy and had no specific knowledge of his medical history.
However, Dr. Chatterjee pointed out that mercury poisoning, another condition that RFK Jr. reported suffering from, has a strong association with neurological problems.
In his deposition, Kennedy also said that his diet, which was high in tuna, increased mercury levels in his blood. He reduced his fish intake and received treatment for the disease.
After a career as an environmental lawyer, Kennedy rose to prominence as head of the anti-vaccination group Children’s Health Defense, formerly known as the World Mercury Project.
Kennedy, 70, has frequently talked about his health during his campaign and sought to contrast himself with Biden, 81, and Trump, 77.
But the member of America’s most famous political family had other health problems as well.
He was a former heroin addict who contracted hepatitis C from intravenous drug use and suffered from atrial fibrillation, a type of abnormal heartbeat.
He told the New York Times that he has been hospitalized at least four times for the condition, but has not had an attack in 10 years.
He also has a severely strained, raspy voice due to spasmodic dysphonia, a disease that causes involuntary spasms in the muscles of the voice box.
On social media, he responded to reports about his parasites by writing, “I’m offering to beat President Trump and President Biden in a debate even if I eat 5 more brainworms.”
Kennedy is challenging the most popular third-party or independent party in decades and could swing the outcome, although polls show him far behind the leading candidates. It has been shown that