Buckle up, folks: It’s cyclospora summer.
The United States has now seen more than 10,000 cases of the diarrhea-causing parasite (8,000-plus in Michigan alone). The big question has been just what exactly people are eating that’s giving them the infection’s telltale “water” and “frequently” explosive diarrhea.
But getting a clear answer has turned out to be a challenge. It’s been a week of whiplash for anybody trying to figure out what to eat for lunch.
On July 16, the Washington Post reported, citing anonymous sources, that the outbreak had been linked to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied to Taco Bell by Taylor Farms. A day later, Taylor Farms said it was withdrawing products from US stores and restaurants based on information from the FDA.
But then, on July 19, the FDA said that there had been a false positive for cyclospora when testing a sample of Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce; Taylor Farms said in its own statement that the FDA had “apologized” for the mix-up. The next day, the company and the federal government were stuck in a semantic argument over whether the FDA “officially apologized” to Taylor Farms or not.
Then, things got even messier.
The FDA has announced it is now tracking a second cyclospora outbreak — separate from the one that now covers nine states — the source of which is unknown. And officials in North Carolina shared that cases in their state seemed to have been caused by cilantro and parsley, not lettuce.
So, as I sit here writing this on Friday afternoon, it appears the United States is currently enduring at least two separate diarrhea parasite outbreaks, seeded by multiple food products, some of which remain unknown. It’s a mess — and if you’re confused, I don’t blame you.
The confusion of the past week has left me thinking, oddly enough, about Covid-19.
