--- title: "FAQ's: The 2026 Cyclospora Outbreak: Questions and Answers for the Public" date: 2026-08-08T08:03:00-07:00 author: Bill Marler canonical_url: "https://marlerclark.com/news_events/faqs-the-2026-cyclospora-outbreak-questions-and-answers-for-the-public" section: News --- [All News](/news_events) / [Press Releases](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/press-releases) / # FAQ's: The 2026 Cyclospora Outbreak: Questions and Answers for the Public Updated Saturday, August 8, 2026. Everything below is drawn from the federal and state health department pages linked in the answers, and the numbers move, so check the links before you rely on a figure. This is general information about an outbreak, not medical advice and not legal advice about anybody’s particular situation. If you are sick, call a doctor. **Where does the government discuss this outbreak?** Two agencies publish on it, and they publish different things. FDA’s advisory is [Investigation of 15-State Outbreak of *Cyclospora* Illnesses: Iceberg Lettuce (July 2026)](https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/investigation-15-state-outbreak-cyclospora-illnesses-iceberg-lettuce-july-2026), and it carries the case counts, the state lists, the distribution maps and the recall details. CDC has three pages: the [outbreak page](https://www.cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/outbreaks/07-26/index.html), the [investigation update](https://www.cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/outbreaks/07-26/investigation.html)behind it, and a separate [national surveillance page](https://www.cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/php/surveillance/index.html) that counts all cyclosporiasis in the country rather than just this outbreak. The recall itself is posted as [Taylor Fresh Foods Recalls Iceberg Lettuce from Central Mexico](https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/taylor-fresh-foods-recalls-iceberg-lettuce-central-mexico-because-possible-health-risk), and CDC’s [July 14 health alert](https://www.cdc.gov/han/php/notices/han00531.html) is written for clinicians and is worth handing to a doctor who has not seen this parasite before. **What is *Cyclospora*?** *Cyclospora* cayetanensis is a microscopic parasite. It lives only in people, and it gets onto food and into water when human feces contaminate them. The illness it causes is called cyclosporiasis. You cannot see it, smell it or taste it, and contaminated produce looks perfectly fine. **How many people are sick?** There are three different official numbers, and all three are correct for what they measure. FDA and CDC count [6,358 illnesses, at least 278 hospitalizations and two deaths in fifteen states](https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/investigation-15-state-outbreak-cyclospora-illnesses-iceberg-lettuce-july-2026) in the outbreak tied to recalled iceberg lettuce. CDC’s [national surveillance](https://www.cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/php/surveillance/index.html) counts every case of cyclosporiasis regardless of source and reports 10,468 laboratory-confirmed illnesses acquired in this country since May 1, plus more than 12,255 further reports it has not finished analyzing, across 47 states, with 517 hospitalizations. And when you add up what the fifty state health departments themselves publish, the floor is [26,755](https://www.marlerblog.com/). **Which states have reported illnesses?** The fifteen states in the federal outbreak count are Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Six of those, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire and North Carolina, were added on August 5. Michigan and Ohio have by far the most illnesses, followed by Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. That fifteen is not the whole map. Cyclosporiasis has been reported this season in 47 states, and FDA says plainly that the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses. If you live in one of the other thirty-five states and you have these symptoms, you are not outside the picture. You are outside a case definition, which is a different thing. **Was the lettuce only at Taco Bell and Walmart?** No. FDA says recalled lettuce went to food service customers in twenty-eight states between June 29 and July 16: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. The Marketside retail product went to Walmart stores in fifteen states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. FDA also says the recalled product reached consumers in Mexico. Worth noticing, because it says something about how carefully any of this is being tracked: the two distribution lists on FDA’s own advisory disagree with each other. West Virginia appears on one and not the other, on the same page, on the same day. **Did a lab ever find the parasite in the lettuce?** No. One border sample was reported positive in July and FDA withdrew it days later as a false positive. No product sample has tested positive. The case against the lettuce rests on patient interviews and on tracing the supply chain back to a single supplier, which is how nearly every *Cyclospora* outbreak in American history has been worked, because the parasite is extremely difficult to recover from food. **What food has been named?** Iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico and processed by Taylor Farms de Mexico. On July 17, 2026, Taylor Farms recalled all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico. Most of it went to restaurants and other food service customers. Two retail items reached Walmart under the Marketside brand, an iceberg salad in 12-ounce and 24-ounce bags and shredded lettuce in 8-ounce and 16-ounce bags, with best-if-used-by dates from July 18 to August 3, 2026. Full refunds are available at the place of purchase. CDC and FDA both say epidemiologic and traceback data show that lettuce was contaminated and made people sick. **Is the recalled lettuce still in stores?** No. The last best-by date was August 3, and the product was pulled in mid-July. If you have anything in your refrigerator matching the recall, throw it out, but by now that would be well past its date anyway. **Then why do the counts keep climbing?** Lag, not new lettuce. Symptoms typically start about a week after exposure and can start as late as two weeks. Many people wait days or weeks before seeing a doctor. The specific test often is not ordered the first time. Then it takes the health department time to interview and confirm, and CDC says that alone can run six weeks. A case count is a picture of the past, and this one is still catching up to a contamination that happened in a field last spring. **How many people really got sick?** Many more than have been counted, and both agencies say so. Nobody knows the real figure, but the published research CDC itself relies on estimates roughly 83 illnesses in the community for every one that gets laboratory confirmed, because most people with diarrhea never see a doctor, and most who do are never tested for this parasite. Applied to this season’s confirmed count, that arithmetic points to a national burden in the high hundreds of thousands. Treat that as an estimate with wide margins, not a headcount. The narrower point is safer and just as damning: the smallest official number is the one that gets quoted, and it is the one furthest from the truth. **Is the lettuce the whole story?** No, and this is the part that gets least attention. FDA’s [outbreak investigations table](https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/investigations-foodborne-illness-outbreaks) currently lists seven open or recently closed *Cyclospora* investigations. A food has been identified in exactly one of them, the lettuce. The other six carry roughly 178 illnesses among them with no food named, and one of them was opened on August 5. Whatever else is out there has not been announced. **Michigan lifted its salad warning. Is it over there?** Michigan has been the hardest hit state by far, with 12,485 reported cases and 279 hospitalizations, and both deaths in the federal count were Michigan residents with serious underlying illness. On August 6 the state health department told residents they could return to routine guidance on lettuce and salad greens, while still saying to avoid recalled lettuce. Its stated reasons were that new case reports are slowing and that emergency department visits for diarrhea are trending down. The state’s chief medical executive said the worst appears to be behind them on the data available today, and she expressly limited that to Michigan. CDC treats May 1 through August 31 as the annual *Cyclospora* season, so there are still several weeks left in it. **What are the symptoms?** Watery diarrhea, often frequent and often described by patients as explosive, is the hallmark. With it come loss of appetite, weight loss, stomach cramps and pain, bloating, increased gas, nausea and fatigue. Vomiting, body aches, headache and a low-grade fever are less common. Symptoms usually begin about a week after exposure, with a range of two to fourteen days. **Can you have it and not know?** Yes. FDA says some infected people have no symptoms at all. Others have symptoms so mild they never think about it. That matters for the counting, and it matters if you handle food for other people. **How long does it last?** Left untreated, weeks, and sometimes a couple of months. FDA describes complications lasting from a few days to a month or longer. The pattern that catches people out is that it relapses. You feel better for a few days, decide it was a stomach bug, and then it comes back. That is one reason so many of these illnesses never get tested and never get counted. **My stool test came back negative. Could I still have it?** Yes. Routine stool cultures do not find this parasite, and even a standard ova and parasite examination misses it unless the laboratory is looking for it specifically. Ask your doctor directly about testing for *Cyclospora*, either a molecular gastrointestinal panel that includes a *Cyclospora* target or a specially stained smear. One of our clients recognized his own illness in news coverage this summer, asked his doctor for the test himself, and that is the only reason he was diagnosed. **What is the treatment?** The recommended therapy is trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, sold as Bactrim or Septra. If you are allergic to sulfa drugs you have a real problem, because the alternative generally used is nitazoxanide, and it has been in short supply in several states this summer. One client’s husband drove about seven hours round trip to fill that prescription. Antidiarrheal medicine may make you more comfortable but does not clear the parasite. Talk to a doctor rather than trying to ride it out. **Can I catch it from a family member?** Not directly. After it leaves the body the parasite needs days to weeks in the environment before it becomes infectious, so it does not pass person to person the way norovirus does. Ordinary handwashing still matters, particularly around anyone in diapers or unable to control their bowels. **Can I get it from drinking water, or from swimming?** Contaminated water is a recognized route, and it is almost certainly how the parasite got onto this lettuce in the first place. Municipal drinking water in the United States has not been implicated in this outbreak. Chlorine, though, is not a defense, and that is worth knowing before somebody tells you a pool or a splash pad is safe because it is treated. This parasite survives chlorination at the levels used for drinking water and recreational water alike. **Can I get it again?** Yes. Having had cyclosporiasis does not give you reliable protection, and reinfection is possible. There is no vaccine. **Do I need to stay home from work?** If you work with food, in health care, or in child care, and you have diarrhea, you should be out of work until you are cleared, and the rules on that vary by state and county. Call your local health department and ask rather than guessing, and tell your employer. Nobody should be handling other people’s food while this is running through them. **Will washing my lettuce protect me?** No, and please do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Washing reduces contamination but never eliminates it. In one published study, a minute under cold running water removed only about 39 percent of the *Cyclospora* [clinging to raspberries](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7926854/). Chlorine and the other sanitizers used in commercial produce washing do not work on it, and [FDA says so in its own words](https://www.fda.gov/food/foodborne-pathogens/cyclosporiasis-and-fresh-produce). Heat does work, at roughly 158 degrees Fahrenheit for fifteen minutes, which is another way of saying there is no kill step for a salad. Prevention has to happen upstream, in the water and the fields, before the produce is ever picked. **Is it safe to eat lettuce and salad now?** The recalled product is off the market and past its dates, and no other lettuce has been named. That is the honest state of it. Michigan has told its residents to go back to normal, and other states have not told anyone to stop eating salad at any point. If you are immunocompromised or otherwise fragile, cooked vegetables carry a risk that raw ones do not, and that was true before this summer and will be true after it. **Who is at higher risk?** People with weakened immune systems, older adults, and anyone who cannot take the standard antibiotic. Healthy adults usually recover, but recovery can take a long time and the weight loss and dehydration are real. **Are my pets at risk?** No. *Cyclospora* is [believed to infect only humans](https://www.fda.gov/food/foodborne-pathogens/cyclospora). Your dog cannot catch this from the lettuce and cannot give it to you. **What can I actually do to protect my family?** Less than you would like, and I would rather say that plainly than hand you a false sense of control. Discard anything under recall. Cooked produce is safe. Know the symptoms, and if the diarrhea is watery, relapsing and lasting more than a few days, do not accept a shrug. Ask for the test by name. **I think I got sick. What should I do?** See a doctor and ask specifically about *Cyclospora*. Report the illness to your local health department, because a case nobody reports is a case nobody counts, and the counting is what drives the investigation. Then write down what you ate and where, and for how many days you were ill. Keep receipts, credit card statements, loyalty card records and delivery orders. If any of the food is still in your refrigerator or freezer, do not throw it out, and if you have the packaging, keep it. **Do I have a legal claim?** You may. A laboratory-confirmed illness traced to a recalled or implicated food is generally a claim against the companies that grew, processed, distributed and sold it, and it does not require proving anyone was careless. Marler Clark has filed cases in this outbreak and represents people sickened in it, so you should read that answer knowing where we sit. There is no charge to have us look at a situation and tell you whether there is anything there. We can be reached at 1-800-884-9840 or through [marlerclark.com](https://www.marlerclark.com/). **Where else should I look?** Your own state health department usually has the freshest number for where you live, and several of them publish more detail than the federal pages do. FDA’s [safe handling advice](https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/safe-food-handling) covers cleaning up after a recalled product. 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The team at Marler Clark is here to answer all your questions. Find out if you’re eligible for a lawsuit, what questions to ask your doctor, and more. [ Get a free consultation ](https://marlerclark.com/contact) ##### Related Resources ###### [Cyclospora Food Poisoning](https://marlerclark.com/foodborne-illnesses/cyclospora/what-is-cyclospora) What is Cyclospora cayetanensis? Cyclospora cayetanensis is a unicellular, microscopic parasite that can cause food- or water-related gastrointestinal illness. The oocyst form of the parasite is chlorine-resistant and must sporulate... ###### [Epidemiology of Cyclospora](https://marlerclark.com/foodborne-illnesses/cyclospora/epidemiology-of-cyclospora) Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal illness caused by the protozoan parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis, which is transmissible by ingestion of food or water contaminated with sporulated oocysts. Most cases of cyclosporiasis occur... ###### [Cyclospora’s Mode of Infection](https://marlerclark.com/foodborne-illnesses/cyclospora/cyclosporas-mode-of-infection) The modes of transmission of C. cayetanensis are still not completely understood. Direct person-to-person transmission is unlikely because the oocysts are not infectious when initially shed (unlike Cryptosporidium, another foodborne... ###### [Symptoms of Cyclospora Infection](https://marlerclark.com/foodborne-illnesses/cyclospora/symptoms-of-cyclospora-infection) What are the typical symptoms of Cyclospora infection? Cyclospora infects the small intestine (bowel) and usually causes watery diarrhea, bloating, increased gas, stomach cramps, flatulence, loss of appetite, nausea, low-grade... ###### [How is Cyclospora Diagnosed?](https://marlerclark.com/foodborne-illnesses/cyclospora/how-is-cyclospora-diagnosed) Cyclosporiasis is usually diagnosed symptomatically in clinical settings, including the presence of watery diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and bloating. In untreated, immunocompetent people, the diarrhea can last from days to weeks... ##### Outbreak Database #### Looking for a comprehensive list of outbreaks? The team at Marler Clark is here to answer all your questions. Find out if you’re eligible for a lawsuit, what questions to ask your doctor, and more. [ View Outbreak Database ](https://outbreakdatabase.com)