{"id":139094,"date":"2026-07-14T15:39:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T21:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-hasnt-seen-elevated-cases-of-cyclosporiasis-despite-outbreaks-elsewhere\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T17:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:00:16","slug":"colorado-hasnt-seen-elevated-cases-of-cyclosporiasis-despite-outbreaks-elsewhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-hasnt-seen-elevated-cases-of-cyclosporiasis-despite-outbreaks-elsewhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado hasn\u2019t seen elevated cases of cyclosporiasis despite outbreaks elsewhere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Outbreaks
Outbreaks of cyclosporiasis \u2013 also known as the \u201cexplosive diarrhea parasite\u201d \u2013 come from eating infected produce. Despite some states, like Michigan and New York, seeing outbreaks, Colorado numbers have not been any higher than usual, according to the Center for Disease Control. (Matt Rourke\/Associated Press file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Outbreaks of cyclosporiasis \u2013 also known as the \u201cexplosive diarrhea parasite\u201d \u2013 have been reported in some areas of the United States. But Colorado numbers have not been any higher than usual in recent weeks, according to the Center for Disease Control.<\/p>\n

As of Monday, the CDC\u2019s Surveillance of Cyclosporiasis page<\/a>, which is used to track cases of the parasite, reported 1,645 overall cases tracked across 34 states, with 141 of those resulting in hospitalizations, and zero resulting in death.<\/p>\n

La Plata County Public Health Director Theresa Anselmo said 90 cases of cyclosporiasis have been recorded in Colorado in 2026 so far, but that none of them are considered part of the national outbreak.<\/p>\n

According to CDC data, Michigan had the highest outbreak rate as of mid-July, followed closely by Ohio and New York.<\/p>\n

The CDC cautions that states are likely to report higher case counts of cyclosporiasis than are reflected in CDC data, and said the center was aware of more than 5,100 cases nationwide as of Monday that require further analysis before they can be confirmed as domestically acquired cyclosporiasis.<\/p>\n

\n

For more information<\/h4>\n

For more information on cyclosporiasis and to track cases reported to the Center for Disease Control, visit www.cdc.gov\/cyclosporiasis\/php\/surveillance\/index.html#cdc_generic_section_5-cases-acquired-in-the-u-s<\/a>For more information on preventing cyclosporiasis, visit www.cdc.gov\/cyclosporiasis\/prevention\/index.html<\/a>If you or someone you know suspects you have cyclosporiasis, consult a doctor as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Cyclosporiasis is a gastrointestinal disease caused by the microscopic parasite cyclospora, and transmission generally occurs from eating infected imported fresh produce.<\/p>\n

The CDC has tracked foodborne outbreaks of cyclosporiasis in the U.S. to foods like basil, cilantro, mesclun lettuce, raspberries and snow peas.<\/p>\n

Symptoms, which can show up within two days to two weeks after infection, can include watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, nausea, fatigue, cramping, bloating and weight loss, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n

To avoid spread, the CDC recommends washing hands with soap and water before and after handling or preparing raw fruits or vegetables; washing all produce thoroughly under running water before cooking or eating; scrubbing firm produce like melons and cucumbers with a produce brush; cutting off any damaged or bruised areas on fruits and vegetables before consuming them; and refrigerating cut, peeled, or cooked fruits and vegetables within two hours of preparation.<\/p>\n

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment<\/a>, aside from eating infected produce, the spread of cyclosporiasis can occur via fecal to oral transmission \u2013 but the parasite requires about two weeks to grow outside of the body after a bowel movement before it is able to infect another person, making person-to-person transmission very unlikely, the CDPHE said.<\/p>\n

The parasite can last several days to a month if left untreated, the CDPHE reports. The illness is treated with antibiotics called trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, or Bactrim, Septra or Cotrim.<\/p>\n

epond@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Explosive diarrhea parasite\u2019 from produce largely impacting New York, Michigan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[1820,289,438,28,1484,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-139094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-dh-trueanthem","tag-disease","tag-food","tag-headlines","tag-illness","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139094"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139106,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139094\/revisions\/139106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139094"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=139094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}