Health officials declare end to largest cyclospora outbreak in history

The country’s largest outbreak of cyclosporiasis has ended, federal health officials said Friday.

The foodborne illness linked to contaminated lettuce sickened 12,883 people across 21 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with more than 500 people hospitalized. Two people died in Michigan, which was the hardest-hit state, though health authorities said they had “significant underlying health conditions.”

The lettuce, supplied by Taylor Farms in Mexico, is no longer available in stores or restaurants.

“At this time, there is no risk of people getting sick with cyclosporiasis from this source,” CDC wrote in the agency’s final update on the outbreak.

Once federal officials began linking the illnesses to Taylor Farms lettuce in mid-July, the company voluntarily recalled products from the market.

At the peak of the outbreak, before the recall, more than 1,000 infections occurred in a single day. Fewer than two infections per day on average occurred in August, CDC said. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), most of the illnesses tied to the outbreak began before the Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce recall was announced July 17.

The CDC is still investigating several case clusters of the parasitic illness nationwide. Including the multistate outbreak, CDC has received reports of 19,595 laboratory-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis acquired in the United States.

The FDA said it is continuing its investigation into the outbreak, including how the product became contaminated with cyclospora. Last month, the agency sent inspectors to the Taylor Farms processing center and lettuce farms in northeastern Mexico.

In a letter to industry leaders, FDA’s acting deputy commissioner for food, Donald Prater, urged companies to invest more in cyclospora prevention and to follow food safety regulations.

Cyclospora is a difficult parasite to track, and the incubation period of illness can take up to two weeks after food is consumed, meaning people would need to remember what they ate weeks earlier. Lettuce is also a highly perishable food, so by the time a potential source is identified, consumers have often either eaten or thrown away the affected product.