A multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak has spread to at least 15 states and infected more than 11,000 people, resulting in the first two reported deaths, both in Michigan. The outbreak has been associated with lettuce, though officials have not confirmed a definitive source.
Jacobin reported that experts have yet to conclusively identify the source of the outbreak, which continues unabated, and that recent tests implicating Taylor Farms have been withdrawn as false positives. Jacobin also reported that the Trump administration downsized the CDC's parasite surveillance team from eleven to just three.
Axios reported that experts pointed to fewer communications staff at the Food and Drug Administration, reduced parasitic disease expertise at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and strains on state and local health departments that investigate outbreaks. Axios also quoted an HHS spokesperson who said the Trump Administration has mounted a robust response, without interruption, to this outbreak, working closely with health departments in all 50 states and leading the public health response by promptly identifying known sources and providing Americans with the information they need to protect themselves.
The Washington Times reported that a grower in California's Salinas Valley told the Wall Street Journal, in a report relayed by Fox News, that he had to chop up 300,000 pounds of romaine hearts and plow them back into the soil, despite no evidence his crops carried the parasite behind the outbreak. The Washington Times also reported that nationally, fresh lettuce sales fell nearly 9% between mid-June and July compared with the same period last year, roughly 7.6 million pounds, according to NielsenIQ data cited by the Journal.
The Washington Examiner reported that forty percent of U.S. adults say they are buying or eating less produce as the outbreak continues to spread, even as federal health officials have yet to identify a definitive source.
