The number of cases in the Cyclospora outbreak that’s unrelated to the massive nine-state lettuce-related cluster has increased from 72 to 93, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shared yesterday. A trace-back investigation is ongoing to uncover the source of Cyclospora, a parasite that causes the diarrheal illness known as cyclosporiasis.
Few details are known about the latest outbreak of Cyclospora, but some experts have noticed a growing number of cases in North Carolina and other southern states.
“[This] may well represent the second outbreak that’s not associated with the lettuce,” Craig Hedberg, PhD, professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, told CIDRAP News.
Confirmed domestically acquired cases top 6,700 nationwide
Cases are still being added to the huge outbreak affecting people in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Interviews with people sickened with cyclosporiasis indicate that many in those states ate at a Taco Bell restaurant and ate lettuce distributed by Taylor Farms de Mexico. That lettuce has since been recalled.
Michigan, which has the most cases by far in the nine-state outbreak, reported 10,386 cases, with 193 people hospitalized as of today, says the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. There are 2,926 cases in Northwest Ohio, with 1,194 cases in Lucas County, per the Toledo Lucas County Health Department.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDD) reports 6,707 domestically acquired, lab-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis, and an additional 11,500 are awaiting confirmation or need more investigation to determine where people contracted the parasite. The CDC noted that there have been 423 hospitalizations related to cyclosporiasis this year, with 45 states reporting cases of the gastrointestinal illness.
It is difficult to track Cyclospora, which means that much of the data investigators have about an outbreak comes from people interviewed about what they’ve eaten. What’s more, the illness has a delayed onset of one to two weeks after exposure, adding to a lag in reporting.
Still, it’s likely that the number of cases in this large outbreak could lessen soon. “Typically, outbreaks of this type do have their natural history,” Hedberg said. “We may well be on a downslope.”
UK cases linked to Mexican resorts
Yesterday, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced it is seeing an uptick in people being diagnosed with cyclosporiasis. The agency noted that 67 people who reported traveling were diagnosed as having cyclosporiasis, and 48 of them said they had been in Mexico, staying at hotels near Riviera Maya and Cancun and eating and drinking at their resorts.
