Cyclosporiasis: the science, risks and red flags
episodePreviously titled “cyclosporiasis-illness-cyclospora-lettuce-taco-bell” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 2, 2026
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Hey there, short wavers. I don't know if you've heard, but there is this illness called cyclosporiasis that has been wreaking havoc on thousands of people across the U.S. this summer, as they've likely eaten contaminated produce. Joseph Kim is a science reporting fellow at NPR, and he has been following this story, and he's here to fill us in on all of the details. Hey, Joe. And help me out.
What is cyclosporiasis? So cyclosporiasis is an intestinal infection caused by parasites of the genus Cyclospora. Okay. They look like the soccer balls we saw at the World Cup. And when they get inside people's digestive systems, people know. Because the symptoms that show up later include farting, abdominal cramping, and watery, sometimes explosive diarrhea, it's pretty bad.
Okay. Yeah, man, if I had any of those symptoms, I would definitely notice them. So that sounds awful.
Yeah, does not sound fun. So I talked about it with Dr. Rebecca Wertz. She's a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and an infectious disease physician. She worked on the first known outbreak in the U.S. in 1990 at Cook County Hospital's dormitory in Illinois.
doctors who were helping to staff the hospital, all within the space of a couple days getting sick with a serious diarrhea. And tests were done that showed no known cause of diarrhea. And it took some days, even weeks, for people to look then for a parasitic cause of of diarrhea. And at that same time, those doctors were sick and they were unable to work that summer at the hospital. And all of them recovered, fortunately.
Man, I'm glad to hear that they all recovered, but that sounds absolutely awful. How bad is the current situation we're experiencing, Joe?
As of last week, 1,645 domestic cases have been confirmed by the CDC. And they know they may have over 5,000 more cases they need to verify. And Rebecca says we're in the middle of the largest known cyclospora flare in the U.S. ever.
And because we know that the confirmed cases are only the tip of the iceberg, I think we'll end up seeing many thousands of cases.
Okay, so today on the show, what you need to know about these cases of explosive diarrhea breaking out across the country, and importantly, how you can avoid it. You're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.
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What is cyclosporiasis and what symptoms should I watch for?
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