Michigan Passes 10,000 Cyclosporiasis Cases—And Experts Still Don’t Have A Definitive Cause — Forbes

RESOLVING THE LEDGER

Topline Health officials in Michigan on Wednesday said more than 10,000 people in the state are thought to have been infected with cyclosporiasis amid an outbreak that continues to evade investigators who have identified one likely source of the infection—but aren’t sure where else it’s coming from.

Michigan's Health and Human Services department said it can now count 10,077 cases of cyclosporiasis with 160 people hospitalized, making up a majority of the more than 11,500 cases reported across 41 states in the last two months.

The outbreak of cyclosporiasis, colloquially called the “explosive diarrhea parasite,” has exposed weaknesses in the country’s food safety system, specifically in its testing limitations and supply chain traceability.

The Food and Drug Administration has linked the outbreak to iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms to Taco Bell, and the company has since recalled products in 27 states, but other unlinked clusters and rising case counts suggest multiple independent sources may be contributing to the outbreak’s spread.

The FDA was forced to partially walk back its allegations against Taylor Farms after learning a sample of lettuce from the company that had tested positive for cyclospora was a false positive, but the agency said it still believes the product to be related to the outbreak.

To date, none of the produce the FDA has tested has produced a positive sample result.

Shredded iceberg lettuce products from Taylor Farms were recalled in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. Taco Bell temporarily stopped serving lettuce, cilantro, onions, pico de gallo and guacamole.

Cyclosporiasis, an illness caused by the cyclospora parasite, is notoriously hard to trace because the parasite is difficult to detect on production. Identifying it has been likened to finding “a needle in a haystack," and contaminated food is often eaten weeks before patients become sick, making it harder to trace exactly what caused the illness. The contamination of produce can occur in irrigation water or during growing rather than in processing, and investigators are often forced to rely heavily on epidemiology and traceback investigations instead of laboratory confirmation. The resulting intestinal illness causes watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, cramping and other symptoms. It is rarely fatal, and no deaths have been linked to the current outbreak.

Michigan Passes 10,000 Cyclosporiasis Cases—And Experts Still Don’t Have A Definitive Cause — Forbes | AIPROPX