--- title: "CDC’s Last Weekly Cyclospora Count for 2026: 19,883 Confirmed Cases, 1,064 Hospitalizations, Two Deaths, and 7,000 Illnesses With No Food Named as of September 15." date: 2026-09-18T08:31:21-07:00 canonical_url: "https://marlerclark.com/news_events/cdcs-last-weekly-cyclospora-count-for-2026-19883-confirmed-cases-1064-hospitalizations-two-deaths-and-7000-illnesses-with-no-food-named-as-of-september-15" section: News --- [All News](/news_events) / # CDC’s Last Weekly Cyclospora Count for 2026: 19,883 Confirmed Cases, 1,064 Hospitalizations, Two Deaths, and 7,000 Illnesses With No Food Named as of September 15. ![](https://www.cyclosporablog.com/files/2026/07/image-650x363.jpeg)As of September 15, 2026, [CDC counts 19,883 laboratory-confirmed](https://www.cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/cases/index.html) *Cyclospora* infections acquired in the United States between May 1 and August 31, with 1,064 hospitalizations and two deaths in forty-nine states and the District of Columbia. CDC [ended the outbreak linked to Taylor Farms de Mexico iceberg lettuce](https://www.cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/outbreaks/07-26/index.html) on September 11 at 12,883 of those cases, which leaves 7,000 confirmed illnesses with no food named. CDC also says this was its last weekly update of the page. **The count grew by 288 in a week even though the season closed August 31.** A week earlier the page said [19,595 cases and 1,043 hospitalizations](https://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/food-poisoning-information/cdc-now-counts-19595-confirmed-cyclospora-illnesses-and-1043-hospitalizations-and-8137-of-those-illnesses-are-attributed-to-nothing-at-all/). Now it says 19,883 and 1,064. Every one of the 288 people added this week got sick in July or August. It takes three to four weeks for a stool test to travel from a clinic to a state lab to CDC, so the count for a season that ended on August 31 keeps rising into September. When [I wrote about this page on September 3](https://www.cyclosporablog.com/2026/09/cdc-now-counts-18445-confirmed-cyclospora-cases-990-hospitalizations-and-two-deaths-in-forty-nine-states-the-season-closed-august-31-the-count-grew-by-1265-the-next-day-and-hawaii-join/), the total was 18,445. It has grown by 1,438 since. CDC also lists 9,765 confirmed cases it has not yet sorted into infected-at-home or infected-while-traveling, and says it is aware of 6,594 more that were never lab-confirmed or are still waiting on an interview. Counting everything, CDC has 36,242 cases in its files. Separately, 2,078 confirmed cases were picked up during travel outside the United States, with 74 hospitalizations and no deaths, in forty-six states and Puerto Rico. **7,000 confirmed cases are not part of the lettuce outbreak, and CDC has not said what caused them.** The lettuce outbreak closed at 12,883 illnesses, 570 hospitalizations and two deaths in twenty-one states. The national count is 19,883 and 1,064. The difference, 7,000 cases and 494 hospitalizations, is people who tested positive for *Cyclospora* this summer and have never been told what they ate. That is about one in three of everyone confirmed. The two CDC pages use slightly different cut-offs, so treat 7,000 as the size of the gap rather than an exact census. [I have written about why that gap matters](https://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/food-poisoning-information/cdc-now-counts-19595-confirmed-cyclospora-illnesses-and-1043-hospitalizations-and-8137-of-those-illnesses-are-attributed-to-nothing-at-all/), and about [the day CDC closed the lettuce file](https://www.marlerblog.com/case-news/fda-has-already-answered-taylor-farms-argument-it-did-it-in-a-warning-letter-to-another-salad-company-that-ran-the-same-play-it-is-not-uncommon-to-see-many-negatives-even-when-contamination/). For a family that was sick in July, it means the answer to “what was it?” is still “we do not know.” **CDC will now update the count “periodically,” not weekly.** The page carries a new sentence: “As of September 15, CDC will stop updating this page weekly because the number of recent infections has significantly declined.” It adds that CDC “plans to continue providing cyclosporiasis surveillance updates periodically.” No date is given. The number of new infections really has dropped, and that is good news. But the public count now freezes at 19,883 while thousands of confirmed cases are still being sorted and the last August reports are still arriving. If you were counted, or are waiting to be, the final number may not be published for some time. ***Cyclospora* symptoms start about a week after exposure and can last a month or longer.** [According to CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/signs-symptoms/index.html), symptoms usually begin about one week after eating or drinking something contaminated, as soon as two days or as long as two weeks or more. The main symptom is frequent, watery diarrhea. Loss of appetite, weight loss, cramping, bloating, gas, nausea and fatigue are common; vomiting, body aches, headache and low-grade fever are less so. Without treatment, symptoms can last from a few days to a month or longer, and diarrhea can go away and then come back. That relapsing pattern is one way *Cyclospora* differs from an ordinary stomach bug. *Cyclospora* is a parasite, not a bacterium, and a standard stool culture does not look for it. If you have had diarrhea for more than a few days, or diarrhea that keeps returning, see a doctor and ask for a test for *Cyclospora* by name. The infection is treatable with a common antibiotic, and treatment shortens the illness. Anyone with signs of dehydration, a high fever, or a weakened immune system should be seen sooner. **What to do if you were sick this summer and never got a diagnosis.** The recalled lettuce is long gone; its dates ran out in July. What remains is the record. If you had a positive *Cyclospora* test between May and August, your state health department should have interviewed you about what you ate; if nobody called, call them. If you were sick for weeks and never tested, tell your doctor now. Seven thousand confirmed cases have no food named, and that number only gets explained if the people in it are counted and interviewed. **Three questions people are asking.** **Is the 2026 *Cyclospora* outbreak over?** The multistate outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce ended on September 11 at 12,883 confirmed cases. The season’s national count was still rising as of CDC’s last weekly update on September 15, at 19,883, because reports from July and August are still arriving. **How many people have been hospitalized or died from *Cyclospora* in 2026?** As of September 15, 2026, CDC reports 1,064 hospitalizations and two deaths among 19,883 confirmed domestic cases, and 74 hospitalizations with no deaths among 2,078 travel-related cases. **Can I still get *Cyclospora* now that the outbreak is over?** Yes. *Cyclospora* is carried on fresh produce, most often imported berries, herbs and lettuce, and on food and water during travel, and washing produce does not reliably remove it. Cases occur every year, mostly from May through August. 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