The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it is investigating a new cyclospora outbreak that has sickened at least 72 people, one of at least four active outbreak clusters the agency is tracking.
The newly identified cluster’s source has not been found by officials yet, but the FDA said it has begun traceback efforts to determine where the contaminated food may have originated.
The investigation comes as cyclosporiasis cases continue to rise across the Midwest, particularly in Michigan and Ohio.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 4,173 domestically acquired cyclosporiasis cases nationwide since May 1 and is investigating more than 7,400 additional reported infections that have not yet been laboratory confirmed.
Last week, the FDA said the outbreak was linked to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms in Mexico. But after a review, officials concluded the result was a false positive.
The agency removed the sample from its update Saturday and said there are no confirmed positive product samples for cyclospora.
Despite the revised test result, the FDA said it continues to work with Taylor Farms and state officials to ensure products linked to the outbreak have been removed from the market while additional samples are collected and analyzed.
The FDA said Monday in an X post that the epidemiological evidence linking the outbreak to Taylor Farms remains “overwhelming.”
“FDA’s traceback investigation and outbreak data continue to converge on shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico,” the agency wrote. “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.”
Investigators have also examined Taco Bell, which sources lettuce from Taylor Farms, as part of the investigation. Last week, officials identified potentially affected Taco Bell locations in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
WHAT IS CYCLOSPORIASIS, AND WHAT ARE THE HIGHEST-RISK STATES?
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday that the nationwide outbreak is under control.
“We do have the outbreak under control,” Kennedy said. “We have done extensive epidemiological forensics, and we’ve identified the source of the outbreak. We and the companies that have been involved have implemented a recall.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
