Federal health officials said Friday that cyclospora cases in Michigan and Indiana tied to Taco Bell restaurants have expanded to four additional states. The outbreak now includes Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, bringing the Taco Bell-linked count to 1,947 cases.
At least 98 people in that count have been hospitalized, and there have been no deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the earlier investigation also included Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.
CDC and FDA tracing lettuce
The CDC, Food and Drug Administration and state health officials have been tracing the lettuce supply and interviewing people across the nation about the foods they ate two weeks before getting sick. The case count is separate from the broader U.S. cyclospora picture, which the CDC said has produced more than 4,100 laboratory-confirmed cases since May 1 and more than 7,400 other likely cases across 41 states.
FDA officials said they remained focused on lettuce from Taylor Farms as the source of the multistate outbreak. Taylor Farms announced a recall of iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico last week.
Mexico City and Guanajuato
On Thursday, the FDA announced it was investigating a separate outbreak of cyclospora reported in 72 people. Mexico health officials said the parasite was not detected in the lettuce or water at the Taylor Farms plant in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, after health authorities visited the plant between July 18 and 20 and collected 10 samples of iceberg lettuce and 4 water samples.
Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that infects food that has come into contact with human feces. The CDC says it most commonly spreads when produce is irrigated or washed with contaminated water, and it can cause intestinal illness marked by “frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements.”
For people who ate at Taco Bell and later became sick, the practical step is to treat the outbreak as an active multi-state investigation: the lettuce supply is still being traced, interviews are continuing, and health officials have not tied the newly added states to a different source.
