Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has faced previously undisclosed health issues, including a dead parasite found in his brain.
Despite being younger than President Joe Biden, 81, and former President Donald Trump, 77, the 70-year-old Kennedy's serious health issues have involved his brain and heart, The New York Times reported.
In a 2012 deposition reviewed by the Times, Kennedy said an abnormality seen on his brain scans "was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died."
RFK Jr. said he underwent a battery of tests, and doctors ultimately concluded the cyst they saw on scans contained the remains of a parasite.
Kennedy said that around the time he learned of the parasite, he also was diagnosed with mercury poisoning.
"I have cognitive problems, clearly," he said in the 2012 deposition, the newspaper reported Wednesday. "I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me."
The Times reported that doctors who have treated parasitic infections and mercury poisoning said each could cause little affect or permanent damage.
The candidate told the Times during the winter he had recovered from the memory loss and had no aftereffects from the parasite.
Kennedy also has been hospitalized at least four times for atrial fibrillation episodes, in which heartbeat abnormality increases the risk of stroke or heart failure.
He told the Times that he believed the condition had disappeared.
In the deposition, Kennedy also said in he had contracted hepatitis C through intravenous drug use in his youth.
A spokeswoman for the Kennedy campaign was asked last week whether any of RFK Jr.'s health issues could compromise his fitness for the presidency.
"That is a hilarious suggestion, given the competition," spokeswoman Stefanie Spear told the Times.
It has been reported for years that Kennedy's raspy voice is due to a rare neurological condition called spasmodic dysphonia. He previously revealed he was diagnosed in his early 40s.
"It began as a mild tremble for a couple of years," Kennedy told Oprah Winfrey in a 2007 interview, adding he believed his condition worsened over the years, Business Insider reported.
Unlikely to win the presidency, Kennedy's presence could affect the outcome of the election. He has secured a place on the ballots in Utah, Michigan, Hawaii, and his campaign says he has qualified for the ballots in California and Delaware.