TAMPA, Fla. — The Florida Department of Health is reporting more cases of cyclosporiasis in the state.
According to the disease tracker on the Florida Department of Health's website, there have been 158 confirmed or probable cases statewide between May 1 and July 18. Most of the cases are in Lee and Miami-Dade counties. In the Tampa Bay area, cases have been confirmed in Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, and Sarasota counties.
Watch report from Tampa Bay 28 anchor Lauren St. Germain
Tampa Bay 28 spoke with the chief of emergency medicine at HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital about a trend he's seeing.
“Over the last couple of weeks, you've definitely seen an influx of patients, uh, with a complaint of diarrhea. Not necessarily all of them will be, have a cause of cyclospora, which is the big concern given the outbreak. But we're definitely seeing an increase in people, mostly in the elderly,” said Dr. Nicolas Fusco.
Tampa Bay 28 anchor Lauren St. Germain covers health news and has been reporting the latest on the cyclosporiasis outbreak. She recently spoke with Dr. Jill Roberts, who is a professor at the USF College of Public Health.
Dr. Roberts told St. Germain that most foodborne outbreaks don’t reach these kinds of numbers, and she’s going to be updating her lecture on food safety because of what’s happening this summer.
“Cyclospora during the summer months is kind of expected. We do see some outbreaks that occur pretty much every year but we are talking about 60 cases, 100 cases, not like now where there is maybe upwards of 12,000 cases. Those are not all confirmed, but they are there so this is just huge and so probably what we are looking at here is an outbreak driven by a very popular food item,” explained Dr. Jill Roberts.
Right now, CDC is investigating multiple clusters of cases across the country. So, it’s possible there are other potential sources beyond the iceberg lettuce linked to the outbreak in 5 states.
On Thursday, the FDA announced it’s investigating a new potential outbreak that includes at least 72 cases but didn't identify a location or source.
There is an antibiotic to treat the infection, so if you have the primary symptoms for more than a couple of days, it is recommended that you reach out to your doctor to get tested.
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