Key takeaways:
- Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania are now included in the multistate outbreak that has sickened thousands.
- Officials have launched a second probe into a separate cyclosporiasis cluster.
The multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak traced to Taylor Farms shredded iceberg lettuce has expanded to nine states, federal health officials said on Friday.
The outbreak, which has sickened thousands, now includes Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, according to the CDC and FDA. Initially, health officials said the outbreak was contained to Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.
“FDA will continue to work with federal and state partners to investigate this multistate outbreak and ensure products implicated in this outbreak have been removed from the market,” the FDA said in an update Friday.
There have been at least 1,947 cases, including 98 hospitalizations and no deaths in the outbreak, but those numbers only include lab-confirmed cases, the CDC said.
The case count is likely much larger. The hardest-hit state, Michigan, reported 8,176 cases and 160 hospitalizations as of Thursday.
On July 17, Taylor Farms initiated a voluntary recall of all iceberg lettuce sourced from a central Mexico facility after health officials linked cases to lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants.
Meanwhile, the FDA announced this week that it has launched a traceback investigation into another, separate outbreak of cyclosporiasis caused by an unidentified source. A traceback investigation involves tracking supply chains of grocery stores and restaurants to the original growers of the products.
For several weeks, federal and state health officials have issued warnings about illness caused by the parasite Cyclospora, which is transmitted to people when fecal-contaminated water is sprayed onto fruits and vegetables, frequently causing watery diarrhea.
Past outbreaks have been linked to lettuce, raspberries, basil, cilantro and snow peas, according to the FDA.
The CDC recommends trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, a combination antibiotic used to treat and prevent bacterial infections, as the preferred medication for cyclosporiasis.
The noted that most healthy people will recover without medical intervention.
“The good news is that it’s relatively easy to treat,” David O. Freedman, MD, FIDSA, told Healio earlier this month, “but it can be a miserable number of days of diarrhea.”
Sources/Disclosures
Source:
References:
- About cyclosporiasis. https://www.cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/about/index.html. Published Sept. 4, 2024. Accessed July 24, 2026.
- FDA. How the FDA uses traceback to respond to foodborne illness outbreaks. https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/how-fda-uses-traceback-respond-foodborne-illness-outbreaks. Updated Oct. 12, 2023. Accessed July 24, 2026.
- FDA. Investigation of 9-State Outbreak of Cyclospora Illnesses: Iceberg Lettuce (July 2026). https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/investigation-9-state-outbreak-cyclospora-illnesses-iceberg-lettuce-july-2026. Published July 24, 2026. Accessed July 24, 2026.
- FDA. Investigations of foodborne illness outbreaks. https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/investigations-foodborne-illness-outbreaks. Updated July 22, 2026. Accessed July 24, 2026.
- Michigan Department of Health & Human Services. Infectious disease outbreaks. https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/keep-mi-healthy/infectious-diseases/infectious-disease-outbreaks. Published July 23, 2026. Accessed July 24, 2026.
- Taylor Farms. Taylor Farms product recall information. https://www.taylorfarms.com/recall/. Published July 17, 2026. Accessed July 23, 2026.
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