Missouri reports over 80 cyclospora cases as investigation continues
Missouri health officials have confirmed more than 80 cyclospora infections, while federal agencies link recent outbreaks in several states to lettuce from a single Mexican farm.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said Thursday that more than 80 residents have tested positive for cyclospora, a parasite that causes watery diarrhea, nausea and dehydration. The increase was noted over the past two weeks, though the state’s case count remains lower than in some neighboring states, according to Nathan Koffarnus, assistant bureau chief of the agency’s communicable disease bureau.
Federal investigators have associated recent cyclospora outbreaks in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia with lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants, and have traced the produce to a farm in central Mexico that supplies less than 1% of U.S. iceberg lettuce. Taylor Farms, the processor linked to the farm, announced it is withdrawing all iceberg lettuce from that region from the U.S. market indefinitely.
The company has faced lawsuits alleging its lettuce caused a 2024 E. coli outbreak that sickened more than 100 people at a St. Louis school event, claims the producer has denied. Attorney Bill Marler, representing plaintiffs in those suits, noted that it is uncommon for the CDC or FDA not to publicly identify the processor involved in an outbreak.
Koffarnus said officials have not yet determined whether Missouri’s cases are connected to those in other states. “Do we have cases that haven’t left the state of Missouri? Do they have anything in common with the cases in Michigan? At this point in time, we just don’t know,” he said.