Cyclosporiasis: Fact vs Fiction

0:01Welcome to Chasing Life.

0:03You have no doubt heard of E.

0:04coli and Salmonella.

0:06But this summer, there is another name that's showing up in the headlines, and that is Cyclospora.

0:12I got to tell you, I've covered a lot of outbreaks over the last quarter century, but this one has been a little baffling.

0:19We know, first of all, that this is a tiny parasite linked to contaminated produce in certain water sources that can cause weeks of diarrhea, cramping, and frankly, other miserable symptoms.

0:31We also know that thousands of people are already sick across the country and that the numbers are rising.

0:37As of this recording, the hardest hit state is my home state of Michigan, Ohio, a distant second.

0:44The numbers are going to still need to be confirmed by the CDC, but just the counts of those two states put it on track now to be the largest recorded outbreak of cyclospora in the United States since 1990.

0:57And I think the most vexing part of this is that we really don't have a handle on why there's been this massive spike in cases.