{"id":34652,"date":"2026-09-28T03:37:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/34652\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T03:37:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T03:37:45","slug":"michigan-dhhs-encourages-food-safety-as-cases-of-cyclosporiasis-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/34652\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan DHHS Encourages Food Safety as Cases of Cyclosporiasis Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Michigan DHHS Encourages Food Safety as Cases of Cyclosporiasis Rise<\/p>\n

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and\u00a0Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), in partnership with several local health departments,\u00a0are actively investigating a large and growing outbreak of cyclosporiasis,\u00a0a diarrheal illness.<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday, June 30,\u00a0more than\u00a0170\u00a0cases\u00a0have been reported in\u00a0Monroe, Lenawee, Washtenaw, Wayne, Livingston,\u00a0Shiawassee\u00a0and Jackson\u00a0counties\u00a0in the past nine days. Typically, Michigan only\u00a0identifies\u00a0around 50 cyclosporiasis cases per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutbreaks of cyclosporiasis have been occurring across the United States and now here in Michigan,\u201d said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive. \u201cBased on the unusual number of cases we have\u00a0identified\u00a0in a little over a week, we anticipate additional\u00a0cases of illness being reported. We recommend Michiganders contact their health care provider if they experience sudden, ongoing diarrhea and reach out\u00a0to\u00a0their local health department if\u00a0additional\u00a0members of their family are suffering from the same symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cyclosporiasis\u00a0is\u00a0caused\u00a0by infection with the parasite\u00a0Cyclospora\u00a0cayatenensis, which is commonly found in developing countries and spread by food or water contaminated with feces. In recent years, outbreaks have occurred in the U.S. as a result of eating contaminated fresh produce, especially during the summer months. Cyclosporiasis is not known to spread from person to person. Symptoms occur two to 14 days after exposure and may include:<\/p>\n

Frequent watery diarrhea.
\nLoss of appetite and weight.
\nAbdominal cramps and bloating.
\nNausea (vomiting is less common).
\nLow-grade fever.<\/p>\n

Individuals experiencing sudden gastrointestinal illness are encouraged to be evaluated by a health care provider. Symptoms of cyclosporiasis can be significantly improved with antibiotic treatment. If untreated, the illness may last for a few days to a month or longer. Providers are urged to consider cyclosporiasis among patients presenting with acute gastrointestinal illness in southeast Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMDARD\u00a0is committed to ensuring food safety\u00a0across the state and is working in partnership with local health departments to\u00a0identify the source of the outbreak and keep consumers safe,\u201d said Jennifer Bonsky, Director of the Human Food Division at MDARD.\u00a0\u201cIn these moments, it becomes even more important to follow\u00a0all of the essential food\u00a0preparation\u00a0guidelines, such as washing your hands before and after\u00a0preparing food and\u00a0washing produce before it is consumed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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To help avoid any illness from\u00a0cyclospora or other harmful bacteria\u00a0or organisms, MDARD\u00a0recommends the\u00a0following:<\/p>\n

Wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly under running water before eating, cutting\u00a0or cooking.
\nScrub firm fruits and vegetables, such as melons and cucumbers, with a clean produce brush.
\nCut away any damaged or bruised areas on fruits and vegetables before preparing and eating.
\nRefrigerate cut,\u00a0peeled\u00a0or cooked fruits and vegetables as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Not all cases identified in the last nine days may be connected to the outbreak and the public health investigation is ongoing. State and local officials are interviewing cases to try and identify a common exposure and prevent additional illness. Individuals diagnosed with cyclosporiasis are encouraged to talk to health department staff investigating these illnesses to help identify a potential cause. Additional information is available at About Cyclosporiasis | Cyclosporiasis | CDC.<\/p>\n

Current\u00a0case\u00a0county by county as of Tuesday,\u00a0June 30:<\/p>\n

Monroe:\u00a070
\nLenawee:\u00a033
\nWashtenaw:\u00a021
\nWayne:\u00a012
\nJackson: 7
\nShiawassee: 7
\n24 cases in 11 other counties and the City of Detroit.<\/p>\n

Age<\/p>\n

Age range: 8\u00a0years to\u00a084\u00a0years
\nAverage age: 44.3\u00a0years
\nMedian age: 41\u00a0years<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

\"image_pdf\"Save this post to PDF\"image_print\"Print this post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michigan DHHS Encourages Food Safety as Cases of Cyclosporiasis Rise The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and\u00a0Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), in partnership with several local health departments,\u00a0are actively investigating a large and growing outbreak of cyclosporiasis,\u00a0a diarrheal illness. As of Tuesday, June 30,\u00a0more than\u00a0170\u00a0cases\u00a0have been reported in\u00a0Monroe, Lenawee,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1403,3085,3083,3086,3084],"class_list":["post-34652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-michigan","tag-michigan","tag-michigan-dining","tag-michigan-food","tag-michigan-grocery-stores","tag-michigan-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117346582265642056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}