CDC Update: 598 Sick With Cyclospora From Salad

ATLANTAThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that as of Aug. 20, 2013, 598 people in 22 states have been confirmed ill with Cyclospora infections from reportedly eating prepackaged salad mix from Taylor Farms sold to retailers and foodservice establishments. Health officials confirmed 40 people have been hospitalized from the outbreak.

Cyclospora cayetanensis is a single-celled parasite that causes an intestinal infection called cyclosporiasis. The CDC, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and state and local health departments continue to investigate the multistate outbreak that now includes illnesses in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York (including New York City), Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Most of the illness onset dates have ranged from mid-June through mid-July.

It is not yet clear whether the ill persons from all of the states are part of the same outbreak.

Nebraska and Iowa performed investigations within their states and concluded that restaurant-associated cases of Cyclospora infection in their states were linked to a salad mix. According to the FDA, a traceback investigation has confirmed that the salad mix identified by Iowa and Nebraska as being linked to the outbreak of cyclosporiasis in those states was supplied to Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants in those states by Taylor Farms de Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V., a processor of foodservice salads.

On Aug. 12, 2013, Taylor Farms de Mexico officially informed FDA that, as of Aug. 9, 2013, the company had voluntarily suspended production and shipment of any salad mix, leafy green, or salad mix components from its operations in Mexico to the United States.