July 22 (Reuters) – Michigan health officials reported 7,171 cases linked to an outbreak of cyclosporiasis on Wednesday, up 600 cases since its last update on Tuesday.
The outbreak of the intestinal infection in Michigan has resulted in 102 hospitalizations, according to the state health department’s latest update. No deaths have been reported.
Here are some details:
• The CDC said on Tuesday 4,173 people across 41 states had contracted the parasite, and 308 of them had been hospitalized.
• The agency said it is aware of at least 7,400 more cases reported by state and local health departments that are not yet laboratory confirmed and require further investigation and analysis. Many of the additional cases have been reported by Michigan and Ohio.
• Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal infection that can be contracted by consuming food — typically raw fruits and vegetables — or water contaminated with feces.
• Mexico Health Minister David Kershenobich said on Tuesday there is no evidence so far that lettuce from Mexico caused the outbreak.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had linked the outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants in some states.
• U.S. health officials are still investigating an outbreak in five states linked to iceberg lettuce.
• The FDA said on Monday that its link between California-based supplier Taylor Farms’ central Mexico-grown lettuce and the outbreak remains unchanged, citing traceback and epidemiological evidence despite a Cyclospora-positive border sample later being deemed a false positive.
• “The short shelf life of fresh produce means that by the time an outbreak is traced to a supplier, it may have already been consumed – adding to the difficulty in testing,” said Thomas Lew, an assistant clinical professor of Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole, additional reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
