Weeks into explosive diarrhea outbreak, sluggish CDC plans response team
The Trump administration continues to respond sluggishly to the explosive, nationwide outbreak of Cyclospora —a unicellular parasite spread from human feces that has now sickened nearly 23,000 people in 47 states, killing two and sending over 500 to the hospital. Michigan health officials reported the two deaths Monday, and The Washington Post first reported Tuesday that federal health officials have expanded a list of states with linked cases from nine to 15 . But those updates still have not appeared on public outbreak pages for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Food and Drug Administration , and Americans are struggling to understand the risk of eating fresh fruits and vegetables. In comments to Ars Technica on Monday, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CDC and FDA, said the outbreak information will be updated sometime "this week." Sources for The New York Times said that the CDC plans to set up a " formal response team " for the outbreak sometime this week. Cases in the outbreak began in June. Read full article Comments
The Trump administration continues to respond sluggishly to the explosive, nationwide outbreak of Cyclospora —a unicellular parasite spread from human feces that has now sickened nearly 23,000 people in 47 states, killing two and sending over 500 to the hospital.
Reports of cases began in June, and the national tally is now nearing 23,000.
Michigan has been one of the hardest hit states in the outbreak. As of August 5, it is reporting 12,218 cases since June 22 . On Monday, the state’s health department reported the outbreak’s first and only deaths, which are rare for the parasite. Cyclosporiasis infections are unquestionably miserable—causing explosive watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, bloating, and gas—but they’re rarely fatal. According to medical records, the two deaths occurred in people with “significant underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by cyclosporiasis and dehydration,” the state’s health department said.
Michigan’s cases are linked to those in eight other states. FDA’s traceback investigations linked the cases in those nine states to Taylor Farms’ shredded iceberg lettuce grown in Mexico and distributed to Taco Bell restaurants, as well as other restaurants, retailers, and food distributors. The nine states in addition to Michigan are: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
