A parasite called Cyclospora has sickened almost 100 people in Texas, according to the Department of State Health Services, which is now investigating the infections to try to determine the source. In 2013, an outbreak in Texas and 24 other states was linked to cilantro from Mexico. It took months for state and federal health officials to find the source. When the CDC proclaimed that outbreak over, 631 cases had been confirmed, 270 of them in Texas.
Our Cyclospora team represented clients in the 2013 cases. Our clients had severely runny and explosive diarrhea for weeks and lost significant amounts of money because of the time they needed to take off of work. When diarrhea lasts as long as it does with a Cyclospora infection (cyclosporiasis), there are not enough sick days and vacation days to cover it all.
Cyclosporiasis is caused by consuming food or water contaminated with the Cyclospora parasite. The contamination often happens when someone already infected with Cyclospora has a bowel movement and does not wash his or her hands. The feces, containing unsporulated (immature, non-infective) Cyclospra oocysts, get on the food. For example, someone contaminated with Cyclospora is working in a commercial field. That person goes to a restroom and has a bowel movement, but does not wash his or her hands. The feces on the hands gets onto the produce. Because even small numbers of oocysts can make someone sick. This one incident could result in an outbreak of illnesses.
Past outbreaks in the U.S. have been associated with eating of imported cilantro, salad mix, raspberries, basil, snow peas, and mesclun lettuce. The key here is that all of the produce implicated was imported.
This illness is characterized by extremely watery diarrhea that can last months in some cases. Additional symptoms may include loss of appetite, fatigue, weight loss, abdominal cramps, bloating, increased gas, nausea, vomiting and a low fever.
Current Cyclospora Cases by Texas County
| County | # Cases |
|---|---|
| Bexar | 3 |
| Caldwell | 1 |
| Collin | 3 |
| Dallas | 5 |
| Denton | 1 |
| El Paso | 1 |
| Fort Bend | 1 |
| Galveston | 1 |
| Grayson | 1 |
| Harris | 4 |
| Hays | 1 |
| Kaufman | 1 |
| Kendall | 1 |
| Kleberg | 2 |
| McCulloch | 1 |
| Potter | 1 |
| Tarrant | 2 |
| Tom Green | 2 |
| Travis | 38 |
| Washington | 1 |
| Wichita | 1 |
| Williamson | 2 |
| Unknown or pending county assignment |
16 |
Testing
You have to be diagnosed with cyclosporiasis to have a legal claim when (and if) the source of the outbreak is found.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, healthcare providers should test patients for Cyclospora if they have diarrhea that lasts more than a few days, or diarrhea accompanied by severe anorexia or fatigue.
Diagnosis of cyclosporiasis requires submission of stool specimens for “Ova and Parasite” testing with additional specific orders for Cyclospora identification. A single negative stool specimen does not exclude the diagnosis; three specimens are optimal.