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An outbreak of diarrhea caused by a parasite has hit thousands of people. Here’s how to stay safe

By CNN

(CNN) — Summer is the best time to be enjoying fresh berries and cool salads with a sprinkling of fresh basil, preferably poolside.

But this summer, with cases of diarrhea caused by a microscopic parasite called cyclospora climbing across several states, you may want to take extra care with how you prepare your produce and where you swim.

The epicenter of an outbreak is Michigan, where thousands of people have fallen ill, and nearby Ohio. Other states, including New York, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, and Texas have also reported a jump in cases, although it’s not clear whether they’re all part of the same outbreak.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says “multiple states” have reported an increase in cases in the last two weeks compared with the same period in 2025.

“CDC is aware that states are likely to report higher case counts of cyclosporiasis than reflected in CDC data and is working closely with states to update numbers as additional cases are confirmed,” it said Friday.

While it’s not likely to kill you, cyclosporiasis, by all accounts, is not something you want to deal with. The watery diarrhea, cramping and bloating it causes can quickly leave you dehydrated and even land you in the hospital.

“If you get norovirus or something, you might have a rough 24 or 48 hours, but people with this parasite can be sick for weeks or sometimes even months with a sort of relapsing pattern, and so that can really wear down your body,” said Dr. Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. She recently wrote about the outbreak in her “Force of Infection” newsletter.

Michigan health officials say lettuce or salad greens may be a potential source of the illnesses, but its investigation is continuing and other foods can’t be ruled out. No specific type, grower or supplier has been identified.

Based on past experience with this bug, there are some ways you can try to keep yourself safe.

Know how it infects people

The good news is that cyclosporiasis doesn’t pass directly from person to person. You get it by eating or drinking something that’s been contaminated several weeks prior, usually fresh produce or water from a swimming pool.

Michigan health officials say there’s “currently no evidence linking recreational water activities to this outbreak.” But this parasite is resistant to bleach, so it can show up in recreational water sources like chlorinated swimming pools and splash pads, but also in lakes and rivers. If you have an outbreak in your area, especially, it might be best to avoid public swimming areas.

Cook your fruits and veggies

When it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables, the safest thing to do to prevent getting sick is to cook them, Rivers said.

Cooking food to an internal temperature of 158 degrees Fahrenheit or higher kills cyclospora, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

How long that takes will depend on your cooking method. Using a food thermometer can help you know that you’ve reached a safe temperature.

Always wash your produce

If it’s something you can’t really cook, like salad greens, you’ll want to wash it thoroughly — for at least a minute — by immersing it in water and swishing gently by hand. The bowl of a salad spinner is effective for this, for example.

Michigan health officials suggest purchasing whole head lettuce, rather than pre-washed, bagged lettuce or mixed salads, and discarding the outer layers of the leaves. You should still wash the inner leaves.

Researchers have also tested a rinse of one part vinegar to three parts water, and this also works to remove most cyclospora spores from produce.

In one study, even careful washing couldn’t remove all cyclospora, however, which proved to be stickier than other parasites.

“My read of this study is that rinsing helps, but it’s not reliable,” said Rivers.

Other practices that may help reduce the risk include breaking off and discarding the outer leaves of a head of lettuce, and scrubbing firm fruits and vegetables with a soft brush while rinsing.

Consider steering clear of certain high-risk foods

You don’t have to avoid all raw fruits and vegetables because of an outbreak with an undetermined cause. But you may want to skip foods that are harder to wash, or that people might be less diligent about washing, including.

Some of those harder-to-wash foods have been involved in outbreaks in the past:

  • Raspberries
  • Basil
  • Salad mixes (including vegetable trays and coleslaw)
  • Cilantro
  • Berry/fruit mixes
  • Lettuce
  • Snow peas

What to do if you get sick

In the midst of a known outbreak, infectious disease experts recommend heading to the doctor for a diagnosis and treatment if you have diarrhea for longer than 48 hours.

“If it’s been more than 48 hours, it’s reasonable to test for it,” said Dr. Rebecca Schein, an infectious disease expert at Michigan State University Health Care.

Standard tests to look for stomach bugs don’t typically include cyclospora. Your doctor may need to special order it. Because the parasite sheds intermittently, you may also need several tests spaced 24 hours apart to get an accurate diagnosis.

Treatment is seven to 10 days of the combination antibiotic sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, which is sold as Bactrim or Septra.

“The recommendation is to treat people who have cyclosporiasis because it can last so long and it’s just uncomfortable,” Schein said. “And it can increase, you know, spread into the environment if we don’t treat it.”

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™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

The world’s oldest president left for a ‘brief stay’ in Europe. He hasn’t returned in two months

By CNN
(CNN) — When Paul Biya won his first presidential election in Cameroon in 1984, Nformi Bime was 23 and still a student.Bime is now 65 and retired from teaching. Biya is 93 – and still president. Last year, he won a disputed eighth term that could keep him in office until he is nearly 100.“The best is yet to come,” Biya said before the election, which his opponents called fraudulent and was marred by deadly clashes between protesters and police.For the past two months, however, the man who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, when as prime minister he assumed power following the resignation of the sitting president, has been thousands of miles away. He left on June 7 for what his office called a “brief private stay in Europe” — now his longest uninterrupted absence from the Central African nation in years.Last week, government spokesman René Emmanuel Sadi told French radio RFI that Biya was in Geneva, Switzerland and was not hospitalized, but did not give more detail on his whereabouts.A president who is rarely seenBiya is Cameroon’s second president since independence in 1960 and one of the world’s longest-serving leaders. He first won office in 1984 under a one-party system, then won six more elections after multiparty politics was introduced.He has spent extended periods abroad during his presidency. But his latest absence has revived questions about his health and who is running the country while he is away.Rumors about Biya’s health and whereabouts have long been part of public life in Cameroon, where he is rarely seen in public. His office has repeatedly had to push back against speculation that he was seriously ill or had died. In 2024, the government banned media discussions about his health, calling them a national security matter.Biya’s long rule also reflects a wider contrast across Africa. The continent has the world’s youngest population, but several countries are still led by aging leaders whose political careers began decades ago, including former liberation figures now governing in a different era.For millions of Cameroonians, Biya is the only president they have ever known.Bime’s children are among them. His oldest is 32, and his youngest is 18.Abit Riassai Acha, a 26-year-old doctoral student and community youth leader at the University of Yaoundé II, belongs to the same generation.“Growing up, President Biya was the only president I knew, so his presidency has been part of my entire experience of Cameroon,” said Acha, who voted for the first time in last year’s presidential election, backing the youthful opposition candidate Samuel Hiram Iyodi, 38.After more than four decades under the same president, questions about his leadership have only grown.“Because this has happened repeatedly over the years, many Cameroonians have become used to it,” Acha said of Biya’s long absences. “But becoming accustomed to something does not necessarily mean that people should stop asking questions about how the country is being governed.”Iyodi, who finished eighth in last year’s presidential election, which several candidates, including one of Biya’s main challengers, were barred from contesting, has called on parliament to ask Cameroon’s Constitutional Council to consider whether Biya’s absence amounts to a vacancy in the presidency. But such a move is unlikely to succeed, given the dominance of Biya’s ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement.Despite being away, Biya has continued to make key decisions from abroad, including a major military reshuffle announced earlier this month. Yet questions about his prolonged stay overseas have left officials publicly assuring Cameroonians that their president is still alive.Government spokesman Sadi dismissed concerns about a power vacuum, telling RFI that “President Paul Biya is alive” and “will soon return.”From hope to frustrationBime is old enough to remember when Biya was the change. He first heard Biya’s name in the 1970s, when he served as secretary-general of the presidency under Cameroon’s first president after independence, Ahmadou Ahidjo. After Ahidjo resigned in 1982, Biya took over.When Biya first appeared on the ballot two years later, Bime saw him as a “representation of hope,” he said. “We believed he was young and dynamic – handsome too. He meant so much to Cameroonians.”Few imagined that the man they saw as a new beginning would remain in power for decades. For his critics, the disappointment is not just about how long Biya has stayed in office, but what they see as his failure to improve the lives of ordinary Cameroonians.Political analyst Collins Molua Ikome, a Cameroonian based in Germany, said he saw some of the country’s problems firsthand when he visited Cameroon in April.“Roads in Cameroon are extremely bad. I even witnessed a fatal accident,” he told CNN.Ikome also pointed to frequent power cuts, corruption and a lack of jobs for young people.Wilson Tamfuh, a public and international law professor at the University of Dschang in West Cameroon, said the country has institutions that can keep the government running when the president delegates responsibilities. Key duties, he said, can be handled by the prime minister, the secretary-general at the presidency and ministers.But the bigger question, Tamfuh said, is whether the government is solving the country’s longstanding problems.“People want the Anglophone crisis resolved, standards of living ameliorated, more good roads, fewer people on the streets with degrees, and more,” he told CNN, referring to the years-long separatist conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.Whenever Biya eventually leaves office, his successor will inherit a country also facing attacks by Boko Haram militants in the north and deep economic frustration among young people.Healthcare is another concern. Ikome said access to quality healthcare remains out of reach for many Cameroonians.“Life expectancy in the country is below 70 years. However, Biya has far outlived that due to access to medical healthcare abroad, which the ordinary Cameroonian cannot access due to poverty,” Ikome said.The divide is not unique to Cameroon. Across Africa, political elites have often sought healthcare or maintained homes abroad, even as public services at home struggle.For Bime, the question is more personal: Will he live to see another president?After decades of waiting for change, he worries he may not – and that Biya could outlive him and many others who are not part of the country’s elite.“Anytime they have a cold, they run overseas and are taken care of, but the other Cameroonians are dying because of lack of care,” he said.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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