{"id":372756,"date":"2026-07-14T17:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/372756\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T17:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:26:11","slug":"san-antonio-officials-urge-safety-as-cyclosporiasis-spreads-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/372756\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio officials urge safety as cyclosporiasis spreads in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As\u00a0cyclosporiasis, a seasonal parasite that can infect the intestines and cause explosive diarrhea, continues to spread across the Lone Star State, San Antonio health officials are reminding residents to take precautions to reduce their risk of infection.<\/p>\n<p>According to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sa.gov\/Directory\/Departments\/SAMHD\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">San Antonio Metropolitan Health District<\/a>, local case counts remain consistent with seasonal trends. Even so, Metro Health is encouraging residents to practice good hygiene and food safety habits to reduce the risk of cyclosporiasis and cryptosporidiosis during the summer months.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Metro Health routinely monitors reportable diseases, including\u00a0cryptosporidiosis and cyclosporiasis, and tracks cases reported locally,&#8221; the statement read. &#8220;Case counts for these conditions typically increase in the summer months. So far in 2026, there have been 32 cryptosporidiosis and 5 cyclosporiasis cases investigated by Metro Health.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to the Express-News, officials at the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed that from May 1 to July 6, Texas reported at least 48 cases of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/cyclosporiasis\/hcp\/clinical-overview\/index.html\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cyclosporiasis<\/a> that match the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/ndc.services.cdc.gov\/case-definitions\/cyclosporiasis-2010\/\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">outbreak case definition<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The majority of these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dshs.texas.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/regions\/Texas-Local-and-DSHS-Regional-Public-Health-Coverage-Map.pdf\" data-link=\"native\" class=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cases are located<\/a> in Southeast and South Texas counties \u2014 such as Live Oak, San\u00a0Patricio, Nueces, Webb, Hidalgo and Cameron, as well as Harris, Montgomery, Chambers, Fort Bend and more \u2014 with with five hospitalizations reported and no deaths, according to state health officials. Near San Antonio, cyclosporiasis cases have been reported in Medina, Bexar and Comal counties.<\/p>\n<p>To help prevent\u00a0cryptosporidiosis infections, health officials said families should take extra care while enjoying recreational water activities to beat the summer heat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As families enjoy pools, splash pads, and other recreational water activities this summer, residents can reduce their risk by washing their hands frequently with soap and water (alcohol-based hand sanitizers are not effective against Cryptosporidium), avoiding swallowing recreational water, and staying out of pools if they are experiencing diarrhea.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to preventing cyclosporiasis infections, health officials are encouraging San Antonio residents to wash their hands &#8220;with soap and water before handling food, rinse produce thoroughly under running water, cut away bruised or damaged spots, and use a clean brush to scrub firm produce, such as melons and cucumbers.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As\u00a0cyclosporiasis, a seasonal parasite that can infect the intestines and cause explosive diarrhea, continues to spread across the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-372756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372756","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=372756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}