Federal agencies are investigating four ongoing cyclospora outbreaks in the United States. This year has seen a record number of cases, prompting concern among consumers and experts.
In its latest update, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports 13,895 laboratory-confirmed domestic cases of the parasitic infection across 45 states since May. They are also tracking an additional 10,455 cases that have yet to be confirmed. There have been two deaths in individuals with underlying health issues.
The biggest outbreak now spans 15 states and has a confirmed case count of over 6,000 people, according to CDC. The agency is still investigating Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce as the likely source after previously declaring their testing a false positive. Taylor Farms has voluntarily recalled their products in 27 states across the U.S.
Agencies are also investigating three additional outbreaks that have already ended.
Cyclospora is a parasite that often contaminates fresh produce, infecting those who eat it. May through August is considered cyclosporiasis
“Because fresh produce items typically have short shelf lives, outbreaks of Cyclospora tend to appear suddenly, and gradually fade as the product is consumed out of the marketplace,” Craig Hedberg, a Professor at the University of Minnesota who focuses on foodborne illness and infectious disease outbreaks, tells Food Tank.
Better and more widely available diagnostic testing methods in clinical laboratories may lead to higher case counts, according to Hedberg. And when awareness of an outbreak grows, more people are likely to seek medical care.
Morris points to an additional explanation: a breakdown in the country’s food safety programs.
Last July, CDC made it optional for The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) to track most pathogens, including Cyclospora. Salmonella and STEC (E. coli) are still mandatory. Although FoodNet is not intended to detect outbreaks of foodborne illness, it better prepares federal agencies to deal with them. Morris thinks that while the outbreak would likely still have occurred, funding cuts, loss of experienced staff, and reduced laboratory capacity within FoodNet, CDC, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have hampered the investigative process.
“All of the tools that would normally be applied, both in terms of preventing the outbreak… [and] investigating the outbreak, have seen major cuts from the current administration,” Morris tells Food Tank.
FoodNet is a CDC program that tracks common foodborne infections to collect baseline data. It uses active surveillance, meaning it contacts clinical laboratories in ten states to identify cases and provide a basis for prevention efforts. “Public health surveillance for foodborne illnesses is a foundation for effective food control,” says Hedberg. But because cyclosporiasis is difficult to diagnose, it can take longer to trace to a source.
Morris notes that oversight of food safety is further complicated by the involvement of multiple federal departments. “We’re the only major Western country that does not have a [single] food safety agency,” he says.
The CDC handles cases of foodborne illness within people but lacks regulatory authority at the state level. Regulation of food is controlled by FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), depending on the product. While these agencies communicate with each other, the U.S. does not have a single federal food safety agency. Morris believes that the country should create one and conduct strong active surveillance on a federal scale.
“We need to invest in public health agencies to better prepare them to respond to outbreaks when they are small, to help prevent them from growing large,” Hedberg tells Food Tank—a point Morris echoes.
Morris advises that consumers can protect themselves from cyclospora by avoiding foods identified as likely to be contaminated, shopping local, and following the latest CDC updates.
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Photo courtesy of Zolfeqar Fatihzadeh, Wikimedia Commons
