{"id":768052,"date":"2026-09-12T05:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T05:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/768052\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T05:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T05:52:09","slug":"cyclospora-largest-us-outbreak-of-explosive-diarrhoea-parasite-is-over-health-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/768052\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyclospora: largest US outbreak of explosive diarrhoea parasite is over, health officials say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The largest outbreak of an intestinal infection that spread across several US states and affected more than 12,000 people has ended, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Two people have died and 570 were hospitalised in recent months in relation to the outbreak of cyclospora, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c621m66qm76o\" class=\"ssrcss-1e0jzsh-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a microscopic parasite that can cause explosive diarrhoea.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In an advisory notice saying the outbreak was over, the CDC said cases had &#8220;significantly declined&#8221;, and it was continuing to investigate the cause of the infection. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Officials have linked the outbreak, which affected 21 states, to lettuce imported from Mexico by Taylor Farms, a key supplier for many US food outlets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Taylor Farms announced a voluntary recall of lettuce sourced from central Mexico, while the US fast-food chain Taco Bell said it has removed lettuce from the supplier from its menu.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Cyclospora causes an intestinal illness called cyclosporiasis. It is spread through contaminated food or water and can cause symptoms including severe diarrhoea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The CDC says deaths from cyclosporiasis are uncommon, as it is &#8220;not usually life-threatening&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Health officials in Michigan said that the two deaths, which both happened in the state, were of people who had &#8220;significant underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by cyclosporiasis and dehydration&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">According to CDC data, there have been nearly 20,000 confirmed cyclosporiasis  cases since 1 May, as well as more than 1,000 hospitalisations. Forty-nine states, as well as DC, have reported cases.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The agency notes that the true number of people who have been sick with the parasite is likely to be much higher. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">While the majority of these were linked to the contaminated lettuce, thousands were not. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">UK health officials too have warned about the outbreak following recent cases contracted by returning travellers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Before the latest outbreak the worst year for infections was 2019, when there were about 4,700 across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The largest outbreak of an intestinal infection that spread across several US states and affected more than 12,000&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-768052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}