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Cyclospora outbreak continues to spread
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One more state, Louisiana, has reported cases of Cyclospora infection in an outbreak that has been linked to bagged salad mix.
The outbreak has spread through 16 states. The total case count, as of Aug. 7, is 504, according to the CDC, with at least 30 people hospitalized in five states. According to investigations in Iowa and Nebraska, the outbreak has been linked to a salad mix. Most cases were reported in Iowa, Texas and Nebraska. The CDC confirmed 41 cases and continues to investigate. It encourages health departments to obtain CDC confirmation using telediagnosis.
Most of the illness-onset dates ranged from mid-June to early July. None of the patients had a history of recent travel outside of the United States or Canada.
The other states reporting cases are Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin. However, it has not been confirmed if all of the cases are part of the same outbreak.
The two index cases were residents of Iowa who became ill in mid-June. According to a report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, four additional cases were reported in early July, prompting the Iowa Department of Public Health to release a special EPI Update, the department’s weekly electronic newsletter. The agency also sent out a Health Alert Network alert to all health care providers — including hospitals, emergency departments, infection preventionists and public health agencies — in the state.
Following a CDC alert, the department issued an email press release and posted updates on Twitter to alert Iowa residents of the outbreak, prompting many to be tested. There have 145 reported cases of Cyclospora infection diagnosed at the state’s public health laboratory.
“The use of electronic messaging and media attention in the early stages of this outbreak investigation provided public health agencies a unique opportunity to increase testing for this uncommon disease, which might not otherwise have been considered by health care providers or their patients,” Nicholas Kalas, MPH, and Patricia Quinlisk, MD, of the Iowa Department of Public Health, wrote in the MMWR report.
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