The Cyclospora Outbreak Continues To Grow

According To the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta there are 21 more cases of Cyclospora Infection. The count for this week is 535 and now it has spread to 18 states. Thirty two have been hospitalized.

On Aug. 2  FDA had informed CDC that the traceback investigation had concluded he prepackaged salad mix blamed by Iowa and Nebraska health officials for the outbreak in those states had come from Taylor Farms in Mexico.  But it took a full week until Aug. 9, that those shipments were stopped by the producer.

“This voluntary action goes beyond the salad mix and includes iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, red cabbage, green cabbage and carrots.”

The current distribution of the outbreak cases is as follows: Texas (215), Iowa (153), Nebraska (86), Florida (27), Wisconsin (10), Illinois (9), Arkansas (5), Georgia (5), Missouri (4), Kansas (3), Louisiana (3), New Jersey (2), Ohio (2), Virginia (2), Connecticut (1), Minnesota (1), New Hampshire (1), and New York (6).

Iowa and Nebraska have concluded the source of the Cyclospora outbreak is those states is a salad mix produced from Mexican grown produce, CDC says it is continuing to work with the other states to determine if that product is responsible for the entire outbreak.

CDC continues to say it is not clear whether all 535 cases are part of the same outbreak or whether it is multiple outbreaks.

Taylor Farms has said its Mexico facility has an extensive water testing program to try to find the source of the problem. Taylor Farms will use processing facilities in California, Colorado, Texas, Tennessee, Florida, and Maryland will take over the salad mix production.

Even though the implicated salad mix has been out of the supply chain since late June, the illness count continues to increase on a daily basis as sick people seek treatment and are diagnosed. The parasite infections cause symptoms that last up to three months in healthy people and up to a year in elderly or immune compromised people who do not seek treatment.

Major purchasers from Taylor Farms in Mexico included the Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurant chains. Other smaller unnamed restaurants and grocery stores were involved

It is imperative that people wash their produce whether it is bagged or not sense  it is not clear if the outbreak was totally caused by taylor farms products. Actually this is a good practice anytime.