{"id":334445,"date":"2026-07-09T15:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/334445\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T15:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T15:16:07","slug":"florida-cyclospora-cases-are-growing-what-to-know-about-the-diarrhea-causing-parasite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/334445\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Cyclospora cases are growing. What to know about the diarrhea-causing parasite."},"content":{"rendered":"

Cases of a parasitic infection<\/a> that can cause weeks of watery diarrhea are starting to skyrocket across the U.S., including South Florida<\/a>, according to national and local health<\/a> officials.<\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>, 17 states, including Florida<\/a>, have a combined 145 confirmed cases<\/a> of the cyclospora infections from early May through June 16.<\/p>\n

However, that number could be much higher as in\u00a0Michigan<\/a> alone, health officials said\u00a0nearly 1,000 people<\/a> there were recently diagnosed.<\/p>\n

What’s causing the rise in Cyclosporiasis cases?<\/p>\n

The cause or causes of the recent rise in cases hasn’t been determined. However, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said<\/a> that previous outbreaks in the U.S. and Canada were linked to bagged salad mixes, fresh cilantro, fresh basil, raspberries, snow peas and scallions.<\/p>\n

Because of that, health officials are urging people to wash all fruits and vegetables under running water before cutting cooking or eating them.<\/p>\n

People are also being told that firm fruits and vegetables, like melons and cucumbers, need to be scrubbed with a produce brush.<\/p>\n

Be sure to cut away bruised or damaged areas of produce before using and eating it.<\/p>\n

You should also refrigerate any cut, peeled or cooked produce within two hours of prepping it.<\/p>\n

How many cases of Cyclosporiasis have been found in Florida?<\/p>\n

According to the Florida Department of Public Health<\/a>, at least 50 cases of Cyclosporiasis, which is an intestinal illness caused by the microscopic parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis, have been reported between May 1 and July 4, 2026.<\/p>\n

In South Florida, at least five cases have been reported in Broward County<\/a>, and six cases have been reported in Miami-Dade<\/a> County.<\/p>\n

Monroe County hasn’t seen any cases in that time period.<\/p>\n

What is cyclospora and how does it spread?<\/p>\n

According to the CDC, Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite<\/a> that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements.”<\/p>\n

The illness isn’t usually life threatening<\/a>, and so far no deaths have been repored.<\/p>\n

The CDC said that outbreaks seem to occur most often in late spring and summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The parasite spreads through feces, and in the past people have been infected by consuming fruits or vegetables that had been exposed to feces-contaminated irrigation water.<\/p>\n

What are the symptoms of cyclosporiasis?<\/p>\n

The CDC said that people usually begin to see symptoms of cyclosporiasis about a week after consuming food or drinking water containing the Cyclospora parasite.<\/p>\n

Common symptoms of cyclosporiasis<\/a> include diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, cramping, bloating, nausea and fatigue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In rare cases, the CDC said patients may experience vomiting, body aches, headache, low-grade fever and other flu-like symptoms.<\/p>\n

The CDC also said that it is possible for someone to have cyclosporiasis and not see any symptoms.<\/p>\n

Most people who do experience cyclosporiasis will recover without needing any medical treatment<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cases of a parasitic infection that can cause weeks of watery diarrhea are starting to skyrocket across the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[506,50308,28,30,29,571,1064,807],"class_list":["post-334445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-broward-county","tag-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-health","tag-miami-dade","tag-south-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}