{"id":367570,"date":"2026-07-09T23:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T23:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/367570\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T23:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T23:40:09","slug":"health-departments-for-houston-harris-county-report-34-cases-of-cyclosporiasis-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/367570\/","title":{"rendered":"Health departments for Houston, Harris County report 34 cases of cyclosporiasis \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Yaamini Jois \/ KERA<\/p>\n

A local North Texas producer sells at the Dallas Farmers Market on a Saturday afternoon in July. Stalls at the market are under shade to protect vendors and buyers from the blinding Texas heat.<\/p>\n

The health departments for the city of Houston and surrounding Harris County have reported a total of 34 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis \u2014 an intestinal illness linked to unwashed raw produce.<\/p>\n

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cyclosporiasis<\/a> is caused by the ingestion of cyclospora, which is a parasite that can sometimes be found on raw, unwashed produce. It is usually not life-threatening but can cause \u201cexplosive\u201d bowel movements, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n

The CDC has reported at least 145 cases nationwide. No deaths have been reported.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n

According to Harris County Public Health (HCPH), the 18 cases in the county represent the total number reported since the beginning of the year. <\/p>\n

“This number is higher than usual for this time of year,” a HCPH spokesperson said in a statement. “In Texas, cases of cyclosporiasis typically increase seasonally from April to August, with symptoms usually appearing within two to 14 days after exposure.”<\/p>\n

RELATED: CDC warns of intestinal illness linked to unwashed raw produce in Texas<\/a><\/p>\n

The Houston Health Department reported 16 cases of cyclosporiasis in the city, according to a Wednesday news release<\/a> from the city. <\/p>\n

The Houston Health Department claims it has not seen an increase in cases this year. <\/p>\n

“We have not identified an increased trend this year in the Houston-Harris County region compared to the past several years,” Dr. Theresa Tran, the director of the Houston Health Department, said in a statement. “We have not found a common source for our cases or any linkages between our local cases and the other cases around the county; our investigations will continue throughout the summer.” <\/p>\n

According to the county health department, most people with cyclospora recover with “no significant health effect.”<\/p>\n

Both local departments agree that thoroughly washing raw produce with water and washing hands with soap and water is key to preventing cyclosporiasis. <\/p>\n

HCPH also recommends refrigerating “cut, peeled, or cooked fruits and vegetables as soon as possible” within two hours, and washing all cutting boards, utensils and surfaces.<\/p>\n

Tran said confirmed cases in the city should be reported to the Houston Health Department.<\/p>\n

“Residents and healthcare providers in Houston who have laboratory-confirmed cyclosporiasis infections can visit the Houston Health Department website to submit a foodborne illness complaint form, which helps with our investigations,” Tran said in her statement. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yaamini Jois \/ KERA A local North Texas producer sells at the Dallas Farmers Market on a Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[34489,3766,128233,405,10795,2940,2244,56,58,30884,57,66,223,80360],"class_list":["post-367570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-cdc","tag-city-of-houston","tag-cyclosporiasis","tag-harris-county","tag-harris-county-public-health","tag-health-science","tag-healthcare","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-health-department","tag-houston-news","tag-local","tag-news","tag-produce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}