State Counts for U.S. Cyclospora Cases Pass 21,000; Michigan Reports Two Deaths
Michigan updated its case count on August 3 in a massive Cyclospora cayetanensis outbreak, reporting 11,234 illnesses and 193 hospitalizations. Michigan also reported two deaths tied to the outbreak.
On July 31, Ohio released an updated case count of 4,087 cases of cyclosporiasis, bringing state-reported totals for all 50 states to at least 21,775 cases. The Michigan and Ohio case counts are part of an earlier-identified, nine-state outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce from Mexico, which was supplied by Taylor Farms to restaurant and retail outlets including Taco Bell and Walmart.
As of July 27, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reporting 6,707 confirmed cases of domestically acquired Cyclospora cayetanensis infection, with 423 hospitalizations, across 45 states. The two deaths reported in Michigan have not yet been added to the CDC website.
State public health officials are reporting cases much more rapidly—with significantly higher case counts—than CDC. This is because state counts include both probable and confirmed cases, and there is also a lag between the time a state receives notice of a case and when CDC confirms cases reported by states as domestically acquired and connected to the outbreak.
Congress, Consumers Question Government Oversight of Food Safety
Last week, U.S. Representative Robert Garcia demanded answers from Taylor Farms about its response to the ongoing Cyclospora outbreak, requesting documents related to the company's communications with federal agencies and internal discussions about the outbreak, as well as its food safety practices at its Mexico processing facilities.
In the wake of the massive Cyclospora outbreak—as well as other high-profile outbreaks and recalls, including a multistate Salmonella outbreak tied to eggs—a Quinnipiac University poll of U.S. voters conducted in the last week of July found that a majority (55 percent) of respondents have little or no confidence in government oversight of food safety in the U.S.
When asked about the Cyclospora outbreak at a July 21 media briefing on health care fraud, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded that the outbreak was "under control." As of August 3, the White House has not issued an official statement on the outbreak.
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