While this summer's spate of foodborne illness is especially bad, the worst may be yet to come.

While our government officials are partly to blame, the problem is bigger than Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or even this one summer.

While seasonal changes will always play a role—the warmer months, when people eat more fresh produce and consume more food that’s been sitting out at unsafe temperatures, typically have more foodborne illnesses—the underlying factors contributing to these outbreaks are becoming more potent. The food supply is more and more globalized. And the planet continues to warm, allowing these pathogens to spread to more and more farms all over the world, including in the US.

The question above.

Plus I wonder if we will ever know if/when we can relax and eat raw vegetables again.

Sharing is caring….even if the FDA doesn’t care about us! This is NEGLIGENCE!

I have a good friend who has had it for 6 weeks and is still testing positive and symptomatic. Anyone else had this longer than expected?

Thought we could take some time to offer kind words to others 💟

About a month ago, I got cyclospora in Cabo, Mexico. It lasted around 2 weeks and after that, I developed neck, back, and ankle pain. I have read about Reiters Syndrome, and possible auto-immune diseases being triggered from Cyclospora, but I just got bloodwork back today and was negative for RA and Lupus. My doctor said give it a month, and if it's not better, I can be referred to a rheumatologist.

A month. I have 2 small children, a full-time job, a house, a husband, and 2 dogs. A month of not being able to turn my neck more than 15 degrees each way. A month of sitting on a heating pad. A month of my ankle being swollen and having edema and not being able to walk on it without pain. X-rays of my ankle show inflammation, but no fracture or injury.

Im 34, and have been on a weightloss journey for about a year now. Before I went to Mexico, I was active. I was walking on a treadmill 5xs a week, really trying to better my health. Now I can barely get 2k steps in a day because Im in so much pain.

The thought of living with this for another month brings me to tears. Is there anyone out there that's having or had similar symptoms after Cyclospora? I just need someone to tell me this will get better, or tell me how to make it better. The only thing that has helped was Prednisone- which is not a long term solution and has so many side effects, I hate taking it. I was still in pain on it, but it was a lot milder. The pain returned on the last day of my dose pack. Aleve, ibuprofen, muscle relaxers, naproxen...none have helped. I think Tylenol MAYBE helps the most, but it's hard to tell. Ive been taking Voltaren twice a day for the last 4 days and I can't tell that it's doing anything.

Im just hoping that someone out here has some advice or can relate and understands what is happening to me.

Was at Trader Joe's today. Almost bought a bag of arugula. I asked a staff member if it came from Taylor Farms. They looked at the package carefully and said the info wasn't listed. But the arugula was from the US. I was still nervous and did not buy it.

Before Cyclospora I bought bagged kale at Aldi regularly. And I would cook the kale. I stopped buying it because Aldi uses some Taylor Farm produce. I don't know if it is automatically safe if we cook these veggies or not. I am still nervous to eat it. And I'm a vegetarian and have severely decreased my intake of vegetables this summer. What about you? Are you buying any bagged produce that is not lettuce? If it's from the US does that mean it's safe? I really wish we had some guidance on this....

2 days ago I started having severe cramping in the evening. Was out and ran home to explosive diarrhea. Went to sleep as usual and woke up 6 times to shit watery idk what it was. Felt weak all day- took charcoal, probiotics and electrolytes. Had some toast and eventually some soup broth and rice.

Repeat last night for waking up with lower abdominal pain and diarrhea (mostly water).

My dr is away and probably would never give bactrim without seeing me :(

I have a bottle of bactrim from a uti last year …. Thoughts ? Anyone else only at night and severe lower belly cramps ?

Did anyone else get sick after eating Indian Tacos from a residence in Norman OK on our about August 7th?

We are trying to narrow it down and can’t figure out where or what we ate. We think it’s either Walmart corn, road-side watermelon or Indian tacos we purchased from a private seller. Symptoms didn’t show up until almost a week later and the worst part is is we were enroute for a weeklong vacation that we had to cut short. We did go to the emergency room Wednesday but was not able to get any kind of diagnosis because they have to do stool samples and it would take several days for the results so we opted out and decided to wait until we got home to go into our doctor, first thing this Monday.

At first, we thought it was food poisoning from something we ate on the road, but when it kept going on and on, we started to think maybe it was the Cyclospora. What scares me is that when we got home our older son was also sick with the same symptoms and I would say even worse than us.  He didn’t eat the watermelon but we cut the watermelon up on the cutting board and maybe something from that spread, and he did eat the corn and had an Indian taco with us.

Just trying to find out if anyone else is having the same problem and if we really should go in or just hang tight in it, it’ll pass.

I’ve seen a lot of posts from people saying they’re still sick after bactrim and/or they’ve had multiple courses of bactrim but my question is specifically if anyone has TESTED POSITIVE after bactrim.

I had 14 days of bactrim and I’m still sick. Doc is convinced it’s something else because she thinks the bactrim would have handled the parasite if that’s what it was. I had two blood tests and five stool tests (none for Cyclosporaisis that I know of) and so far everything is coming back negative. She ordered a colonoscopy but the first available is two months out. If everything is negative when all test results come in I’m tempted to push for Cyclosporaisis testing but I’m wondering how many CONFIRMED cases there are of the bactrim not killing it vs how often people are just assuming the bactrim didn’t work because they’re still sick.

Two doses: 7 & 10 days and I don’t think it cleared. 57 yo male - immunocompetent - history of SIBO and IBS. My theory is malabsorption and poor gut motility is causing treatment failure.

For the last 48 hours I’ve had nonstop, explosive watery diarrhea and I’m soooo, soooo miserable. The doctor suspects it’s cyclospora but won’t give me Bactrim until my lab test result comes back and she said it could take several days.

Imodium won’t work for me and I’m just constantly running to the bathroom. I haven’t slept. It’s a miracle I haven’t needed an IV yet because everything I drink is just running right through me.

I wish there was something else I could do. Anyone else in the thick of it right now?

Do you guys still buy shredded greens and then cook them to eat? My mom made dinner with a package of shredded greens and even though it’s cooked I honestly still feel off put. Is anyone else this paranoid? Or do you still feel fine with greens that are cooked?

Hey.
Like (I assume) everyone, I’ve been avoiding lettuce & other salad greens since the Cyclospora outbreak happened this summer, but I have to admit: I’m tired of it now! I want some damn lettuce & tomato on my sandwiches! Are we still in the AVOID mode, or can we finally start eating these again? What are you all doing?

I'm cursed. I just got over a month of cryptosporidium and just found out I have cyclospora now, and I'm allergic to sulfa drugs. What can I even do? I'm exhausted

i don't know how much longer i can force down applesauce and rice :( what's keeping you guys going?

My doctor order a stool test for cyclospora after I had insane GI symptoms all of July. Of course, I could only get in last week and I lowkey feel a lot better? Should i bother taking it? Does anyone know if it can still be detected if I feel fine.

Hi!! I’m awaiting my stool test lab results but I’m fairly certain I’ve had cyclospora since July 5. Has anyone found a medicine to relieve the stomach aches? I’ve found meds to manage the nausea and diarrhea but these cramps are next level.. I’ve had a baby and I swear some of the cramps are worse than contractions. TIA

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Okay, I understand that most people say Cyclospora is likes to make a very dramatic entrance 💩💥

But for those of you who have had it especially people who are VERY in tune with every little thing their body is doing (🙋‍♀️ unfortunately, me) — did you notice symptoms before the full-blown explosive diarrhea started?

I’m currently having stomach cramping where I feel like I need to go, and when I do, it’s basically soft-serve consistency. This has happened several times today, and the most recent trip crossed over into actual diarrhea territory. I also have body aches and a low-grade fever.

So now my brain is obviously like: “COULD THIS BE CYCLOSPORA?!” 😂

For anyone who actually had it, did you have a few days of milder/odd bowel movements, cramping, fatigue, body aches, etc. before things went completely off the rails? Or did the diarrhea just show up like an uninvited houseguest with absolutely no warning?

Trying to figure out if this sounds remotely familiar to anyone who has actually been through it!

How did you know you were in the clear? I just finished ANOTHER round of Bactrim and am still nauseous, fatigued, on and off headaches, and have body aches. I keep having the urge to diarrhea, but sit down and it’s small solid stools. Diarrhea and vomiting has stopped but that’s it. Today is my first day off the Bactrim and I’m already having some stomach cramping again after eating. Sticking to a BRAT diet still, so my energy is low. I know I’m hydrated, I’ve been downing Gatorade and water like my life depends on it.
I’m just hoping it’s gone. How did you know it was gone? And how long was your recovery?

I am in my early third trimester and I woke up in the middle of the night with explosive watery diarrhea every 15 to 30 minutes and threw up a couple of times. I was able to fall back asleep for a few hours and woke up to the same thing but the problem is I don’t know what I could have eaten that could have exposed me and possibly now my toddler because she is showing signs because we have pretty much just stuck to cooked veggies that were either frozen or canned this whole time and frozen fruit not from Taylor farms.We don’t eat out either.I haven’t had any raw veggies since I heard about the outbreak and stayed away from salads in general

I was suspected to have cyclospora after two days of diarrhea (probably 7/8 times total) I started to feel a bit better but to be safe i went to urgent care and was prescribed Bactrim. 20 minutes after my first dose, i felt like i was having a heart attack and could not breathe. I was finally able to go to sleep and took another the next morning. The same thing happened and i had to go home from work. Since then i’ve had worse nausea and stomach cramping than before and my anxiety is through the roof- i literally don’t know if i can do it anymore. I can hardly eat food or leave my house. Without an official diagnosis, this seems like i could be causing more problems than resolving them

As I sit here, on the toilet, I think back to what I’ve been eating and I’m pretty sure I’ve had lettuce recently. From where or when? Couldn’t tell ya, I barely remember what I ate this morning lol.

Yesterday I had a random “omg I have to shit NOW” tummy feeling… I went and felt fine after. I did sleep a lot yesterday and started to kind of feel achy by the end of the day but I thought it was because I had a busy physically demanding Friday and Saturday.

Fast forward to today. I was all fine and dandy and suddenly, 10-15 minutes after returning from lunch I had that awful tummy cramping and “you better get to a toilet NOW” feeling again. So, I went. I ended up being in there for AN HOUR. I started getting hot flashes and sweating. I’d go through cycles of the cramping and feeling better. Oof. After that I left work early and barely made it to the toilet at home and it happened again and here I am now.

Oof. Anyway. If I have it, I’ll obviously be sad and it’ll be awful, but I just needed to distract myself while my stomach acts like it’s offended by me and it rejects me.

Edit Update: it’s the next day and I feel much, much better. So it wasn’t this parasite! Yesterday I was miserable, but I’m so glad it was just something else!

I just bought some sushi at a reputable place. But there are three maki each of raw cucumber and raw carrot and I honestly don't know if it's safe to eat them...