The US Senate has confirmed Dr Erica Schwartz as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a vote that comes as the country grapples with a growing outbreak of Cyclospora, a parasite that causes severe diarrhoeal illness. The confirmation is significant given ongoing concern among lawmakers about public health leadership under President Donald Trump's administration, with some questioning whether the incoming director will be able to act independently of the White House's top health officials.

Schwartz was confirmed on Wednesday in a vote that split along party lines, reflecting the broader political tension surrounding health policy appointments in Washington. Her confirmation places her at the head of the federal public health agency at a moment when it faces immediate operational pressure from the parasite outbreak spreading across the country, alongside wider scrutiny of vaccine policy and infectious disease response under the current administration.