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ILLINOIS (WBBM) — The Illinois Department of Public Health has reported more than 400 confirmed and probable cases of cyclosporiasis, a parasite-borne illness that can cause diarrhea and nausea.
As of Tuesday, IDPH said there have been 408 confirmed and probable cases of cyclosporiasis, including 215 acquired domestically, 145 reported by patients who traveled outside the U.S. Another 48 cases have unknown travel history.
Officials said 31 of those people were hospitalized for treatment of cyclosporiasis, but no deaths have been reported.
The number of cases in Illinois has nearly doubled over the past week, with 215 confirmed or probable cases one week ago.
In neighboring Michigan, health officials are battling the largest cyclosporiasis outbreak in the U.S., with more than 7,100 cases as of Tuesday. That is the largest outbreak reported in the country.
The outbreak, first reported in May, has spread to 34 states, sickening at least 1,644 people, according to the CDC. However, the CDC’s tally lags behind state health departments, which have reported much larger numbers of cases.
Cyclosporiasis can be contracted by consuming food or water contaminated with feces. It is the illness caused by the parasite cyclospora and is typically treated with the antibiotic Bactrim. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common symptoms are frequent watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, bloating, nausea, and fatigue.
The number of cyclosporiasis cases is likely underreported because there is significant time between when the parasite is first consumed and when symptoms begin showing up. This makes the true number of cases in an outbreak – in the state and nationwide – more difficult to report as well.
“Anything in fresh produce is one of the hardest trackers, especially when symptoms are a week or more in longevity,” said Brian Schaneberg, executive director for the Institute for Food Safety and Health at Illinois Tech.
Taylor Farms remains focus of FDA cyclospora investigation, despite false positive test
A sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms that had tested positive for cyclospora was a false positive, the Food and Drug Administration said Sunday. But the FDA said Monday that its investigation and data “continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico.”
In the statement announcing the false positive, the FDA said that as of Sunday it had not found any “confirmed positive sample results for product testing for Cyclospora.”
In a subsequent statement Monday, it said, “To clarify, this false-positive lab sample DOES NOT change the basis for FDA’s ongoing outbreak investigation or the overwhelming epidemiological data supporting the current voluntary recall by Taylor Farms.”
Taylor Farms on Friday said it was “voluntarily removing” iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico after the lettuce had been linked to one of the largest outbreaks of cyclosporiasis in the U.S. in recent years.
“While the FDA traceback is indicating a specific independent farm, which represents less than 1% of the U.S.’s iceberg lettuce supply, as the potential source of the outbreak, we have removed all iceberg lettuce from the region indefinitely,” the company said Friday in a statement.
Testing for the cyclospora parasite is more complicated than for other pathogens, such as E. coli or Salmonella, Jennifer McEntire, founder of food safety consulting firm Food Safety Strategy, told CBS News.
“With things like cyclospora, it’s much more difficult to recreate it in the labs, which means that it’s harder to run tests,” former associate FDA commissioner Peter Pitts said.
CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Céline Gounder said that a false positive test result was “ordinary as a laboratory event.”
“The unusual thing isn’t the false positive. It’s that an unconfirmed single-sample result went public on a Saturday and was withdrawn on a Sunday,” Gounder said. “The question I’d ask FDA is not ‘how did the lab get it wrong’ but ‘what is your policy for announcing a presumptive positive before confirmatory testing closes, and did you follow it?'”
On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified lettuce supplied to select Taco Bell restaurants as a source of the multistate outbreak, more than a month after cases first began to appear.
The iceberg lettuce was distributed to Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia, according to the CDC. Taco Bell said on Friday it had “completed removal of affected Taylor Farms lettuce from our restaurants.”
In a new statement on Monday, Taco Bell CEO Sean Tresvant addressed “fans” of the fast food chain, promising transparency and putting customer safety first.
“This means bringing the right people together, asking the hard questions and doing the work to help build a stronger food system,” Tresvant said in a post on LinkedIn. “My thoughts are with everyone affected. There is a better way forward, and we are going to lead the way. We owe that to you.”
Walmart also announced over the weekend it had removed four Marketside bagged iceberg lettuce salad products from its stores in more than two dozen states, but added there was “no indication that products sold in our stores are affected by the current Cyclospora investigations.”
Taylor Farms said Sunday, “Our thoughts remain with everyone who has fallen ill in this outbreak. We are committed to working with public health authorities as the ongoing outbreak investigation continues.”
How to prevent cyclosporiasis
You can easily lower your exposure to the cyclospora parasite by washing your hands and surfaces during food preparation, by washing raw ingredients in cold water, and by thoroughly cooking fruits and vegetables.
Vinegar does not kill cyclospora, but it could help clean some of them off. In 2021, researchers in Norway added one part vinegar to three parts water and tested that mixture to clean three types of parasites from raspberries and blueberries.
The researchers found the mixture overall removed more parasites from both berries, but not a significant amount more than cleaning the berries in a salad spinner. It did help clean the berries more than just running them under water.
The CDC also recommends cutting away any damaged or bruised areas on fruits or vegetables before preparing and eating, and refrigerating cut, peeled or cooked fruits and vegetables as soon as possible.
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