372 total Cyclospora intestinal parasite infections noted today nationwide, with Texas running about 155 of those. These numbers are cases forwarded to the CDC by State Health authorities, and so the numbers may change throughout the day. http://wwwn.cdc.gov/foodborneoutbreaks/ and http://www.cdc.gov/outbreaknet/outbreaks.html
The CDC has been tracking the intestinal parasite Cyclospora http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/cyclosporiasis/since June, noting that this typically 3rd world illness has surfaced in the US and is spreading rather rapidly without a known cause.
The states with reported infections as of the morning of July 30, 2013 were Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, Georgia, New Jersey, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Minnesota. One Northern state has indicated that a pre-mixed salad is the culprit. The CDC has not seconded that causality.
Typically, the CDC stats are tracked by laboratory confirmed cases of the food/water borne illness, and then they are traced to a product, restaurant or grocer… the point of distribution.
The CDC also traces backwards to discover the point of delivery, production and the grower, as the illness is most typically spread on a specific collection of food or foods. So that means a farm or collection of farms, possibly a water source there and possibly even a person working the farm.
How can this happen you ask? See the prior article about the illness and spread. If this is traced to a farm, it is often possible that workers don’t have access to toilet facilities in the field. They therefore also do not have access to water and soap to wash their hands. Run off that includes fecal matter, either distributing the illness to the growing plant or to the picked and packed product or even in the machinery used to pack or ship the product is a possible culprit.
Ghost Map is a suspenseful wonderful historic account of a public health MYSTERY like this one, an award winning book about very early struggles with waterborne illness. This account of how (#POVvPOF) point of view versus point of fact killed a lot of people. http://www.amazon.com/The-Ghost-Map-Terrifying-Epidemic/dp/1594482691
Hand washing with soap and water, cleaning cooking or food preparation surfaces with diluted bleach or a cleaning solution made for disinfecting and washing fresh produce purchased only from known sources is the best way to prevent problems like this.
Persons with a laboratory diagnosis supposedly should not be handling food until they are released by a physician after treatment ( although the CDC does not have a formal policy on this). Treatment for the illness includes taking an oral antibiotic and taking extra precautions to wash hands and keep surfaces clean in the home.