Overview
- Federal and state investigators tied a nine-state cluster to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms from central Mexico, and the company issued a voluntary recall and suspended production from the region on July 17.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded about 4,173 laboratory-confirmed cyclosporiasis cases nationally and is reviewing roughly 7,400 additional possible cases, while Michigan reports more than 9,000 confirmed cases and about 160 hospitalizations.
- The Food and Drug Administration said a lettuce sample initially reported as positive for Cyclospora was later deemed a false positive but said that the epidemiologic evidence still supports the recall.
- The CDC has deployed investigation teams to Ohio to interview patients and trace exposures, and federal and state agencies are expanding tracebacks and testing into other clusters that may involve parsley, cilantro and other produce.
- Public-health experts say Cyclospora is hard to detect because it must mature in the environment and cannot be cultured, washing reduces but may not remove it, cooking to at least 158°F (70°C) kills it, and recent delays and cuts to traceability and surveillance programs have slowed outbreak detection and response.