Public Service Announcement: US cyclosporiasis outbreak

[mdlbear]

TL;DR: If you live in the US, stay away from raw leafy greens, herbs, berries, snow peas, and scallions. Maybe other produce. Cooked is okay.

See siderea | ALERT: Cyclosporiasis outbreak nationwide [pestilence, US, Patreon] for a lot more information and many excellent links. Probably the first link to follow (well, okay, the first link I followed) is Your Local Epidemiologist: Explosive foodborne outbreak - by Katelyn Jetelina. I'm assuming that the ambiguity of "explosive" is deliberate.

Comments

[madfilkentist]

So far the outbreak is in the Midwest, and I'm in New Hampshire. I'll take elevated precautions, but I'm not throwing out all my salad fixings.

[mdlbear]

There appear to be a few cases in New Hampshire, but you're probably pretty safe. Good luck.

[madfilkentist]

Just saw that over a hundred cases have been reported in New York State. Maybe I should wait a while before replenishing my salad supplies.

[gorgeousgary]

Among the many things I did not have on my 2026 bingo card was having to worry about a literal Salad of Doom!

[melchar]

Aaaaaand US standards have been reduced to test produce because industries whined about the cost.

[mdlbear]

Effect, meet cause.

[madfilkentist]

Historically, cyclospora has usually been traced to imports from countries with warm climates. There seem to be suspicions the source could be domestic this time, though. The long incubation time makes it harder to trace cases to a source.