CDC reports more than 4,000 cyclosporiasis cases as outbreak spreads

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now reporting more than 4,000 confirmed cyclosporiasis cases in 41 states, even as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the outbreak is "under control." The gap between that reassurance and the rising caseload has put pressure on federal food-safety tracking just as investigators are still piecing together the source.

Cyclosporiasis is caused by the parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis and can trigger severe gastrointestinal illness. The CDC has said the season typically runs from May 1 through August 31, and officials expected cases to keep rising through the end of August because symptoms can take up to two weeks to appear. Earlier counts had already shown the scope of the outbreak expanding quickly, with at least 1,600 people sickened in five states and then 1,645 confirmed cases across 34 states by the CDC’s July 14 update. Other federal tallies have put the outbreak near 7,000 confirmed or suspected cases, with more than 140 hospitalizations and no deaths reported.

Federal officials linked the outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms in central Mexico. Some recalled products were sold at Taco Bell locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia and distributed in Walmart stores nationwide, but the traceback has not yet answered every consumer question about where contaminated ingredients entered the supply chain or how widely they moved before the recalls.

Kennedy defended the response by saying there had been no cuts to the surveillance program and arguing that FoodNet reductions were only to "redundant surveillance." Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia challenged that account in a July 16 letter, saying Kennedy had terminated CDC FoodNet monitoring of Cyclospora cayetanensis last year. The dispute goes to the center of the outbreak response: whether federal officials had enough active surveillance to spot the problem early, map it quickly, and stop it before the count climbed across dozens of states.

The CDC issued an outbreak update and public health alert on July 14 for domestically acquired cases in multiple states, and local health agencies, including King County Public Health and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, warned clinicians and the public to watch for cases. Mexico has said its own investigation has not found evidence linking the outbreak to the Taylor Farms facility in central Mexico, leaving the source still contested even as the case count continues to grow.