As of Tuesday<\/a>, the department had reported 3,309 cases and\u00a044 hospitalizations.<\/p>\nThe intestinal illness is caused by the parasite cyclospora. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say people can become infected by consuming food or water that contains the parasite, and symptoms include \u201cwatery diarrhea with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,\u201d\u00a0loss of appetite, bloating, cramping, fatigue and weight loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s rarely fatal, so most people will recover,\u201d said Dr. Lawrence Goodridge, a professor of food safety at the University of Guelph. \u201cIt takes about two weeks after consuming the contaminated food before symptoms show up, and the symptoms can last for seven to eight weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
During that time, he added, symptoms will \u201coften disappear and reappear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quebec\u2019s Health Ministry said a seasonal increase in cyclosporiasis cases is \u201cusually observed in the spring and summer,\u201d and that it is \u201ccontinuously\u201d monitoring the situation.<\/p>\n
Heading to the U.S.? Opt for fruit with smooth surfaces<\/p>\n
Canada has about 240 cases of cyclosporiasis per year on average, according to Goodridge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the majority of that is people who have travelled,\u201d he said. \u201cThis parasite is not common in Canada, the U.S. or Europe. But it is commonly found in Central and South America, the Caribbean, south and southeast Asia and Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Public Health Agency of Canada has repeatedly said it has \u201cnot seen any cases that are associated\u201d with the current cyclosporiasis surge in the U.S., Goodridge added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe outbreak has been going on in the U.S. for a while now \u2014 at least a month, probably a month and a half or more,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I think we would have seen cases. I don\u2019t think we have to worry from that standpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n
But given the outbreak affects 31 American states \u2014 including New York \u2014 and Montreal\u2019s proximity to the border, Goodridge said travellers to the U.S. can take some precautions, including cooking produce where possible, since heat \u201cwill kill the parasite.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canadians visiting the U.S. should opt for fruit without nooks or crannies where cyclospora can get in; it can then be hard to remove, even with washing.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of eating raspberries and blueberries and strawberries, choose fruits that have smooth surfaces, like grapes, for example, or perhaps fruits that have rinds or skin,\u201d Goodridge said, adding skin can be peeled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re going to eat lettuce, instead of buying lettuce that\u2019s fresh cut, like in bags, buy whole heads of lettuce.\u201d<\/p>\n
The outer lettuce leaves can be removed, \u201cbecause that\u2019s where the majority of contamination will be,\u201d and then the inner leaves can be washed, reducing the risk, he said.<\/p>\n
klaframboise@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quebec is experiencing an uptick in the number of cases of a parasite causing watery and sometimes explosive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,218268,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-802334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-quebec-health-care","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}