The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 17,180 confirmed cyclospora infections across 48 states and Washington, DC as of Aug. 24. New Mexico was added to the list, and Only Delaware and Hawaii still had no federally confirmed cases.
The update also listed two deaths and 922 hospitalizations, with 94 hospitalizations reported since the previous week. The CDC said it has counted only lab-confirmed infections that began on or after May 1 in people who had not traveled internationally within 14 days of illness onset.
CDC and FDA tracking
The CDC said its numbers usually trail state-by-state reports by about six weeks because infections must be confirmed and formally reported before they enter the federal tally. That lag leaves at least 11,841 additional cases waiting for laboratory confirmation, while the FDA was still tracking at least six other cyclospora clusters that had not yet been tied to a source.
Michigan and Ohio remained the hardest-hit states, with Michigan reporting 14,277 total cases on Aug. 20 after 13,909 on Aug. 11. The state-level counts moved faster than the federal total, showing how the reporting gap can widen even as the same outbreak is being tallied.
Michigan and Ohio
Cyclosporiasis can cause diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, and cyclospora is usually contracted through contaminated food or water. The CDC also said some infections may never enter any count because people recover at home without seeing a doctor.
For people in the affected states, the practical step is to treat ongoing gastrointestinal illness seriously and follow any medical advice tied to the outbreak. The unanswered piece is the source: the CDC and FDA are still working through multiple clusters without a linked food item.
