A large outbreak of cyclosporiasis associated with iceberg lettuce has been linked to another four states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At least 1,947 people have become ill and 98 have been hospitalized in the outbreak, which has expanded to include Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia were already part of the outbreak.
The Food and Drug Administration has linked the infections to iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms and grown in central Mexico. On July 17, Taylor Farms recalled bagged iceberg lettuce sold in 27 states (including the nine states in the outbreak). The recalled lettuce was sent to restaurants, retail stores and food service distributors including Taco Bell and Walmart, but Taylor Farms has not provided clear information about exactly where the products were sold or served, and which specific products were affected.
The news comes as federal officials investigate other cyclospora outbreaks and illnesses across the country, which they say are unrelated to this outbreak.
Nationwide, the CDC has confirmed or is investigating more than 11,500 cases of cyclosporiasis, which is caused by a parasite typically spread through food or water contaminated with human feces.
The true number is likely far higher, health experts said. Many people with symptoms never get tested. And because it takes time for state health departments to report case numbers to the CDC — and for the agency to confirm them — state totals often exceed those reported by the federal government.
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The New York Times reached out to state health departments for their case counts, which collectively reached nearly 16,000 as of Friday afternoon.
In Michigan, which has reported the most cases, some labs have started to run out of the reagents that they need to test for cyclosporiasis, said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the state’s chief medical executive. Cases there climbed to 8,176 on Friday. Their tallies are “likely an undercount,” Bagdasarian said.
Health officials in Ohio, the state reporting the second highest number of infections, confirmed 2,576 cases on Thursday — more than double the number recorded on July 16.
This has been the worst year on record for cyclosporiasis in the United States, which has had an average of about 2,800 cases per year nationwide since 2016.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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