The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 145 people in the United States had cyclosporiasis by June 16, and Michigan later reported more than 170 cases on July 1, turning a seasonal illness into a fast-moving summer health concern. The CDC’s count covered 17 states and included 20 hospitalizations, even as the agency said it had no evidence of a single multistate outbreak tying the cases together.
That is why the CDC parasite outbreak search is spiking now. Cyclosporiasis, caused by the parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis, is usually spread through contaminated food and most often brings watery, frequent and sometimes explosive diarrhea. The CDC says the season begins May 1 and runs through the end of August, which means the latest case counts arrived squarely in the middle of the period when the infection is most likely to surface.
The surveillance number matters because it shows how broad the illness had become by mid-June. The CDC said its website data is a count of people with cyclosporiasis across the United States, including clusters still under review and cases that have not been tied to a common source. Of the 145 U.S.-acquired cases counted on June 16, patients ranged in age from 5 to 86, with a median age of 42. Another 45 people had contracted the illness while traveling abroad, and none of the U.S. cases had died.
Michigan stands out because its total rose far faster than the national count released by the CDC. The first case in the state was discovered on June 22, more than 150 people had become ill by then, and by July 1 the state health department said more than 170 cases had been reported. That was a sharp jump from about 50 cases in the state last year, showing how quickly the problem expanded even without a confirmed single source.
The part that does not fit neatly is the one officials have not solved. The CDC said on July 2 that it did not have new data to provide, and no common food or other source has been named for the illnesses spreading across more than 17 states. For now, the counts point to a broad summer contamination problem, but not yet to one outbreak that explains all of it.
