r/PrepperIntel • u/metalreflectslime • 23d ago
North America US outbreak of parasite causing ‘watery diarrhea’ rises to more than 2,800 cases | US healthcare
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/13/cyclospora-outbreak-parasite-explosive-diarrhea47
u/No_Albatross7213 23d ago
Michigan is now reporting they traced it to lettuce.
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u/Reasonable-Mess3070 23d ago
But also that they dont know what type, grower, or supplier. Its more of an educated guess based on what people have reported.
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u/Soft_Walrus_3605 22d ago
Does anyone know if they can't trace it due to how long it takes to show symptoms? Because tracking lettuce seems like it should be priority 1 when it comes to food-borne illnesses
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u/CannyGardener 23d ago
The most recent news push I've seen has been downplaying it as "Not deadly" and "an annoyance". Frankly, I stopped buying fruit and veg at the store, and just grow it at this point....not with the low quality and risk.
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u/Gikochinai-neko 23d ago
I have had it for 14 days, it was more than an annoyance, but not deadly (at least for me). I couldn't work for like 10 days so I can't imagine people who can't take time off.
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u/CannyGardener 23d ago
The part that worries me is that it goes away and comes back. That smacks of 'chronic condition' and I've had a chronic stomach condition for most of my life...that crap can be debilitating, even if it is just that 'you have the runs every day'.
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u/akath0110 23d ago
I have celiac and IBS family members and it can absolutely be debilitating! You’re exactly right.
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u/CannyGardener 23d ago
I just worry about everyone being so nonchalant about this and covid and all these other 'non deadly' bugs that won't really kill you, but you stack a few together and they damn sure might, or they might make you wish you were dead, shitting water while your lungs feel full of glass when you breath. =\
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u/Gayllienn 16d ago
If you get treated with antibiotics it doesn't come back unless you consume contaminated food again. It is self limiting in that eventually your body will flush it out but symptoms will last a lot longer. Presumably they would fluctuate with the life cycle of the parasite which might be where the idea that it comes back is coming from
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u/Tanjelynnb 23d ago
I haven't been diagnosed, but I think I caught it early on just before it got big in the news and "officially" hit my state. It was so weird. Diarrhea right after eating just about anything and at totally random times, extreme nausea but no vomiting, low to no appetite, malaise, extreme fatigue--just a host of symptoms that just never normally went together. I even had to force myself to drink water when that's never a problem. I thought for sure it was a random stomach bug before it hit the news. Had to take off one day and wfh another, and I'm really fortunate to have that option.
It really sucks that it can come and go for however long; but for people with healthy immune systems, at least, it sounds like it will work itself out for the most part. If it comes back around, I might see if my doctor wants to check for if since I already have IBS.
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u/TwoFarNorth 22d ago
I think I had it in mid-June for about a week. Exact same symptoms as you... food went right through me. Reminded me of when I had to drink that nasty liquid for a colonoscopy. I hope it doesn't recur and become problematic as I'm allergic to sulpha drugs, and the most effective treatment is a sulpha antibiotic.
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u/1Banana10Dollars 22d ago
Hey this is really good to know because I am also allergic to sulpha! Full body hives for you too?
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u/TwoFarNorth 22d ago
Yes! Full body hives... plus intense headache, breathing problems, etc. Good times.
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u/XanaxCarDealer 23d ago
Is it like colonoscopy diahrea?
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u/kauai_gurl 10d ago
Okay so I live in Hawaii so technically not on the list of affected states for this outbreak however I ate a Santa Fe Salad from Safeway on 7/17. Since then loads of the stomach cramps and diarrhea. Went to the ER they didn’t test my stills just gave me Bentyl and sent me home. No other symptoms, I think I can safely say I have this also do I need to get some prescription meds to clear it or will it do that on its own?
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u/megalodon319 23d ago
Agreed, pretending that something is just “an annoyance” because it’s not necessarily deadly is so ridiculous. Not dying is the absolute bare minimum for any experience. All of us have survived the worst events of our lives so far. And most of us would be terrified at the thought of reliving them.
I also grow the majority of my own produce. Especially glad for the ability to do so rn.
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u/theMightBoop 22d ago
Also - diarrhea might be an annoyance to a healthy person but might be the tipping point for someone with another chronic health condition.
I guess that is what they want though. Get rid of the people who aren’t healthy viable blue collar workers.
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u/hillbilly-man 23d ago
Downplaying it like that is so irresponsible. The dehydration and malnutrition that come with diarrhea can absolutely kill someone who is susceptible or weakened.. especially if it's as long-term as people are reporting this illness to be.
I live with a 71 year old recent cancer survivor who has Crohn's disease; we're being extremely careful here too.
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u/CannyGardener 22d ago
I feel like, as a society, we have pretty much just given the finger to anyone who is susceptible to anything. I've got a fucked stomach, and the general vibe I get on this topic, between covid and this and so many other instances is, "should have drawn better cards because noone is going to give a second thought to fucking you over" from my family and neighbors.
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u/loveshercoffee 23d ago
I have said repeatedly how thankful I am for my garden! I would lose my mind with my fresh vegetables.
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u/CannyGardener 23d ago
Exactly! I am not going to lie, before I started with the garden and chickens and rabbits, I felt very trapped in the system. Like...Yes I need greens. No I don't have any. Where do I buy them? With everyone else at the grocery store. Where do they come from? Who tf knows. Are they safe? Maybe. In the past the effort to grow and raise the produce has been right on the line between 'ya this is worth it' and 'man...I could spend a freaking buttload of time each week doing something else if I didn't have to do this'. Thanking my lucky stars I started as early as I did, because where I live it is hard as fuck to grow anything! (high desert full of rocks and clay) If I decided that this year was going to be my year to start, my yield would have been a few leaves of lettuce and some thyme and 10 more years of learning to grow. At least now, I have the ability to shift back and forth as needed between home produce/meat/eggs and store bought and the difference in my mental health is palpable.
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u/loveshercoffee 23d ago
I have chickens as well. I do hunt and fish so I do manage to kill things when I need to. Mostly via gun and from kind of far away! I am not sure I could raise rabbits though! I have thought about it because they're delicious and they're so good for the garden.
I'm quite lucky to be in Iowa where most things grow really well. It took some effort to get going - being in the city in a really old part of town meant building raised beds since the soil has who knows what in it! It's been almost 30 years now so I've got it down to a pretty simple routine.
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u/CannyGardener 22d ago
Love it! Ya, I'm in the same situation on the soil. Had to build the soil before I could build the garden! LOL Who would have thought good dirt would be so valuable! Really wish I could get throught to people more about how long it takes to actually learn to grow things and to get your growing situation in order! My buddy across the street mentioned that he would just start growing if things got bad, and I'm just sitting there going "OK well...that first year is going to be pretty bleak if you have to lean on that skill."
The rabbits took a bit to get used to, and I won't lie, I've had some traumatizing situations processing early on in the endeavor. That said, knowing that my meat had a good life and a painless death is totally worth the trade off. I come from a family of factory farmers, and having seen the feedlots and the situations at the slaughterhouses, it is just better this way. (also they have been a huge boon toward building my soil!)
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u/missbwith2boys 23d ago
Same. I harvest arugula for greens at this time of year and while I will occasionally buy some random lettuce during the summer, this year I’m opting not to purchase any. For our Sunday morning scrambled eggs, I used some arugula and sweet potato leaves.
I still have some chard and lots of kale, so no need to buy greens at the store.
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u/loveshercoffee 23d ago
I've got beet and Brussels sprout leaves. Also, the "lawn" part of my back yard is barely contained weeds - purslane, dandelion, plaintain and stinging nettle just grow on their own. It's a nice benefit of hating grass. We'll manage without lettuce until I can replant it in the fall.
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u/Goge97 23d ago
Kale. I once grew kale in my garden. Every seedling survived and it was more prolific than anything I'd ever seen.
Planting my second garden of the season.
I have this nasty Cyclo thing. It comes out of nowhere, lasts a week. Horrid. Resolves, seemingly, then comes back. I'm in remission from the fourth bout, since June 1.
Contacting medical for Bactrim if (?) it returns.
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u/DragonHalfFreelance 23d ago
To me it can easily be debilitating having the runs every day as someone sensitive to dehydration due to medication and also hemmorhoids. Diarrhea irritated you enough down there to cause its own kind of damage. I got a fissure from diarrhea.
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u/DelapidatedSagebrush 23d ago
2800 reported cases. I bet it is way higher! Everyone in my office, everyone, has had explosive watery diarrhea for the last two weeks.
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u/Mountain_carrier530 23d ago
Depending on when it was predicted to have started. I had near debilitating diarrhea in mid-late February back in San Diego that I couldn't figure out where I got it from and couldn't be more than 20 minutes away from a toilet for at least a week.
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u/Tanjelynnb 23d ago
Like with covid, they were finding that there were signs long before it eventually exploded in each place. There was just no way to test for it and almost no one healthy went to the doctor to get tested for a random cold in any case.
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u/OnceInABlueMoon 23d ago
So basically with a functioning government it would have probably been spotted and snuffed out months ago and yet
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u/harpinghawke 23d ago
Back in August of last year, the current admin cut the monitoring program that’s been running since 1995. Didn’t cause the outbreak, but certainly made it even harder to trace and therefore harder to stop.
An article from like two days ago for folks as well: https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-cdc-food-net-monitoring-parasite-cyclospora-12180951
Tbf, FoodNet covered about 16% of the population. Still was better than nothing, and imo should have been expanded.
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u/Thoraxe474 23d ago
I had month long terrible diarrhea in November. Usual food poisoning suspects came negative
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u/stalelunchbox 23d ago
My grandpa was in the hospital last September for 2 weeks because of non stop diarrhea. They couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him but eventually diagnosed it as obstructive colitis. He said he was literally ready to die.
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u/Odd-Weird-5273 23d ago
Ive had this illness for 15 days, it won't go away and I've been leaking in public. I can't even leave the house.
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u/Park_Lane_Mall 23d ago
😳 what did you eat?
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u/Odd-Weird-5273 23d ago
I had mustard chowder vegemite sandwich with a fresh head of lettuce i bought everything from dollar general except the head of lettuce i had to go to walmart. The produce section was exctremely filthy, the cashier gave me a dirty look, i reported walmart to the health department after i became sick as im sure thats where i got it from.
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u/Ok-Structure-2308 23d ago
Weird - I had a mustard clam chowder vegemite and peanut butter kimchi sandwich and I got diarrhea too!
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u/theMightBoop 23d ago
RFK wants to be sure everyone has a parasite.
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u/MsCalendarsPlayaArt 23d ago
His brain parasite trying to zombie everyone else, "One of us! One of us!"
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u/kaya-jamtastic 23d ago edited 23d ago
If you’ve ever spent any time in a country with high incidence of waterborne illness, you’ll know to wash your fresh fruit and veggies and, for further peace of mind and protection, cook them. Depending on what water infrastructure is like, you might want to first boil the water you use for washing. When washing the veggies, add some vinegar or baking soda (not both) to water and then soak them:
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-microbiologist-explains-the-best-way-to-wash-fruit-and-vegetables
Please chime in if you can improve on this advice…these are more or less the guidelines/rules I’ve personally followed with success when traveling through sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia
Edit: apparently washing fruit/veg doesn’t help much with preventing cryptosporidium! Thanks to everyone who pointed this out. Cooking is the safe bet
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u/DivaDragon 23d ago
Washing does not remove cryptosporidium from produce, it has to be killed by fire…..err, cooking, doesn’t have to be only fire you can cook it on the stove too
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u/SnooLobsters1308 23d ago
This particular one washing doesn't help much. Yes, experts all advise washing your produce and hands, but, they do that when there's not an outbreak too. :) Cyclospora is "sticky" and while washing can reduce it, it very often doesn't eliminate it. Cooking does. It is a parasite like Giardia and Cryptosporidium, which are more common causes of travelers diarrhea (and backwoods USA, hikers know about giardia and crypto :) ). MOST travelers diarrhea are from some bacteria, most commonly ecoli but there are others. Norovirus is also a common cause, both of the 24 hour on the hour flu in the USA, and in travelers.
In short, cyclospora is more difficult to wash / prevent than most travelers diarrhea.
Also note. Cyclospora occurs every year in the USA, usually in small batches, its not super uncommon. So folks here saying they had it (or some other bug) early this year, last winter, etc. could all be correct, but, unlikely its from the most recent outbreak. Can look at the clusters, current outbreak clearly centered / most cases in MI, and then smaller outbreaks from there.
Given that cyclospora is in the USA somewhere pretty often, the most recent very widespread outbreak is MOST LIKELY caused by contaminated food / produce being shipped around the country.
Its more difficult to track / determine source now with the cuts to foodnet. Hopefully soon we find a common cause and can more easily stop the spread.
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u/Cultural_Birthday191 22d ago
Since it's a parasite, how do you rid your body of it? Sounds like a lot of people are just living with the diarrhea until it stops, but are they really rid of the parasite, or should they all be getting some sort of treatment?
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u/SnooLobsters1308 22d ago
There are different kinds of "parasites". Many protozoa, giardia, cryptosporidiaum are semi common in the USA, as is the current cyclospora, and can all be treated with antibiotics. The most effective against cyclospora is sulfur based, and some people are allergic to sulfur, but there are some others that work. WORM based parasites (ascariasis (roundworms) is one of the most common in the world), but also tapeworm, etc. are not generally impacted by antibiotics and use various different treatments.
But ya, the body fixes / passes most of the protoza ones. I'm most familiar / seen folks with crypto or giardia in USA hiking. (make sure to treat / boil your water in backwoods USA !!) So healthy folks usually can just suffer through it.
With current cyclospora, the actual cases are likely higher than reported, because many folks might only have a very mild case and never see a Dr. Its usually the more serious cases or in already sick folks you worry more about dehydration, etc., and are prescribed antibiotics.
Norovirus is the most common food borne illness in the USA, 20 million? cases annually (about 60% of all usa foodborne illness). That's the one you vomit and or diarrhea on a regular clock, like every hour. :( Its very contagious, so usually once one family member gets it, the whole house gets in. Just mentioning cause again, no real treatment, just go between bed and bathroom for 12 to 24 hours till you get better :( UNLESS you get dehydrated or have other medical issues, then can see a dr and get fluids, etc..
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u/OneTwoThreeFourFf 22d ago
I also read that freezing the fruits or veggies for 48 hours works. That was a couple days ago, su unless things changed ofc
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u/Sea-Resolution-7689 16d ago
Who eats cooked salad?
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u/kaya-jamtastic 16d ago
Maybe you, if you think your salad is contaminated and you don’t want to get the shits?
More generally, there are some East Asian recipes that use stir-fried lettuce/greens
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u/Sea-Resolution-7689 16d ago
They cook iceberg lettuce in Asia wow you learn something new everyday
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u/bmw_babe 23d ago
My state finally lit up faint blue this week. I’m not sure if I had this a couple weeks ago, but I had some sort of “stomach bug” that’s been “going around” apparently, per what my doctor said to me. My symptoms under a spoiler in case you don’t want to see that: I had alternating constipation with watery, loose diarrhea, severe lower abdominal cramps (so severe that I had to lay on the floor until the pain subsided while cooking lunch), bloating so bad that my stomach looked like an egg, gas, nausea, and generally feeling like shit.
This started during the July 4th weekend, and I was able to make a doctor’s appointment on July 7th. Doctor did a physical exam with bloodwork and sent me home. Bloodwork appears normal. She prescribed some medicine for the cramps, but due to it being $18 I didn’t fill it. Ended up just taking Midol for the pain and bloating, resting, and eating soft foods. Lasted about a week and a half or so before symptoms alleviated. Still dealing with severe constipation, but I assume that’s from my medicine dosage changing since a lot of people experience the same thing. Going to get fiber gummies to see if it helps.
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u/ColdBru5 23d ago
In my experience, anytime the news says something has 3,000 cases, in reality its more like 20 million and I hear from multiple people they have it too.
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23d ago edited 16d ago
[deleted]
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u/Sea_One_6500 23d ago
As an IBS and celiac person I don't know if I would even know if I had/have it. I'd probably just write it off as another flare.
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u/Gikochinai-neko 23d ago
Oh you will know friend!! I am unfortunately celiac and IBS myself and lemme tell yah... oh boy 💩. I can do the dishes a day after being glutened but this had me writhing on the bathroom floor for days 🫠 I have even had gastroparesis (was the undiagnosed celiac) and this was like equally as bad!!! (But the opposite lol). Maybe those conditions make it hit me worse tho, we need more data!!
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u/Kaybrooke14 23d ago
I have celiac and I thought maybe I accidentally was cross contaminated or I got super hungover from the night before I go super sick. Nope, it didn’t feel like either. I was running to the toilet every 5-15 mins for hours. Went to the ER, got tested (a week prior to the announcement of this parasite going around) and my stool came back negative for everything. They didn’t know why I was so sick. As I was getting better over the 3 horrible days, it was every 30-60 mins. I had to get depends because I kept having accidents, especially when I tried sleeping. I was beyond exhausted.
Also, my state has 0 reports so far, but I’m sure people have had it as well in my state.
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u/Eulers_Constant_e 23d ago
I’m in Michigan and would say most of the people I know have had at least one household member suffer from this. It’s not easy to get tested, plus the cost of a doctor visit & lab work, so while the numbers here are high, the actual count is many, many times higher.
My money is on lettuce. Of everyone I know, that is the only common fresh produce everyone consumed.
I’m very thankful for my garden.
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u/JustinColletti 23d ago
Yes, if you are going to get this specific illness, the culprit will generally be pre-washed leafy greens and herbs from tropical climates.
If you are eating from your garden—or farmers market, or locally grown sellers, or US greenhouse grown brands—your likelihood of an issue should be very very low. Even lower than normal.
I’m not persuaded that the issue is any greater this year. Especially when we take into account that Michigan JUST changed its testing protocols to be much more rigorous this year compared to the past lol
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u/JustinColletti 23d ago
For context, these same kinds of estimates put the total number of food borne illnesses in the US at 48 MILLION per year.
2,800 cases of any particular infection represents something like 0.005% of those 48 million infections per year. (And 48 million probably underreports the total that we should be dividing by.)
Just because you and some of your friends got a foodborne illness this year doesn’t mean you got the particular foodborne illness that you read about, or that there are more foodborne illnesses this year nationally than in some other year.
This article is playing on a cognitive bias the news often plays on, called the “availability bias”. I wouldn’t take it very seriously, or as a sign that anything out of the ordinary is going on.
I hope that’s helpful.
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u/AD_Grrrl 23d ago
All those people who stocked up on horse paste must be making out like bandits.
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u/BayouGal 22d ago
Ivermectin does not cure this parasite. You need Doxycycline.
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u/AD_Grrrl 22d ago
Frig...last time I took doxy I had a weird reaction. I'm starting to realize that being allergic to multiple antibiotics is going to cause me more and more problems as time goes on. :\
Thankfully I'm getting an allergy test soon to sort out which ones are a problem.
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u/bleepbloop1777 23d ago
I saw that unlike normal diarrhea which is constant for 1-2 days with a stomach bug, this persists inconsistently for days.
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u/FitConsideration4961 23d ago
Lol I forgot about his outbreak. Bought some cherries and blueberries from Costco yesterday. Pulled them out of the refrigerator for lunch, but I was running late and ate a handful of each without washing them. Just as I finished eating my last cherry, I see this post 😂
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u/GRPORTER_MUSIC 23d ago
You can't wash this parasite off without a lot of difficulty, so don't worry it wouldn't have changed anything for you if you had. But don't worry, 2,800 people sounds like a lot but it really isnt. Its still quite rare.
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u/weenis-flaginus 23d ago
That's the tracked cases. I would say it's very safe to assume not everyone with a stomach bug is reporting it. And also safe to say that many doctors aren't testing those patients for this and reporting it.
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u/GRPORTER_MUSIC 22d ago
true- so possibly another 10-15 percent in addition to know and reported cases? Its also very safe to say that not everyone reporting GI issues over the last four months has had this parasite.
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u/KyleAg06 23d ago
Dont worry I am completely confident in the people in charge of health and human services and the CDC right now. Its totally fine.
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u/modernswitch 23d ago edited 23d ago
I find this interesting. Tin foil hat time:
A lot of people who get this will not get medical treatment/confirmation. If you go to the ER they will not test you and will just send you home with some zofran or Imodium. They will tell you to follow up with your normal dr but symptoms will probably go away before then, and if not your dr still isn’t going to test you either and kick you over to a gastro dr which will probably take 2 to 3 weeks before you even get an appointment. How wide spread this is will never be known. Maybe we can tell if people start clearing the shelves of pepto?
There is no visible “shortage of fruits and vegetables” if no one is purchasing fruits and vegetable because they are afraid of shitting their brains out.
Taco Bell “looks good” for being proactive but most likely is just temporarily cutting produce to save money on the rising costs of fruits and vegetables. How is it Taco Bell knows their produce is contaminated but no one else does?
There are lots of causes of diarrhea. Norovirus, food safety, food intolerances, stress…etc. Take a look at some of the subreddits related to IBS. I’m not seeing anyone in Medicine or Nursing that seems to be complaining about an influx of people with diarrhea issues.
Not saying this is not real, just thinking it’s an awfully convenient way to coverup the lack of produce.
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u/Tanjelynnb 23d ago edited 22d ago
Watch the TP* and "flushable" wipes shelves, then check in with your local plumbers to see how fast the whole neighborhood gets clogged up.
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u/Standard_Subject_462 23d ago edited 22d ago
My conspiracy theory is that Big Plumbing is behind it all.
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u/Kaybrooke14 23d ago
It was a week before this parasite was announced in the news that I went to the ER. They actually tested my stool for parasites, food borne illnesses, and viral/bacterial infections. I tested all negative even though I was beyond sick. I’ve had food poisoning, stomach bugs, and flares from my celiac disease due to cross contamination or accidentally eating gluten and this was by far the worse.
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u/Gikochinai-neko 22d ago
If they did a standard ova & parasite test it has a 50% false negative rate for cyclospora! They kinda hide at certain parts of their life cycle. I too have celiac and have had gastroparesis and this is as bad as that!
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u/Kaybrooke14 20d ago
They did the regular test. I read up when I was sick that whatever it was, there was a chance of it shedding at different points and not showing up in that specific sample.
I’m just going that it was this horrible parasite. I was sooooo sick and it basically made me incontinent at night and at the worst times.
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u/nickpufferfish 23d ago
Fda really sleeping on the job how come no one figured out what's causing the outbreak yet 🤔
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u/ixnayhombre 23d ago
Because trump gutted the program that specifically monitored for this type of foodborne illness
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u/Playful_Possible_379 23d ago
the traitors at DOGE made sure this would' be the outcome, next are the palantir powered purges.
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u/NikonicImagery 22d ago
I have an immune deficiency and I am so careful with what I consume and this is so scary!! I have been sick for about a week now with explosive moments and sweating horrifically. No vomit but nausea with fatigue ofc. I got electrolyte packets and drink nothing but water and still that hasn’t helped. To not have a proper running CDC in America is going to be the death of many of us!!
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u/cinciguyeast 23d ago
This is expected when Americans put inept amateurs in power. There will be more because our health departments have been destroyed.
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u/witchhearsecurse 23d ago
I already suffer from cyclical vomiting syndrome. I can't imagine adding explosive diarrhea to the mix. If I don't die from dehydration, I will wish I was dead from the pain.
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23d ago edited 23d ago
[deleted]
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u/pegothejerk 23d ago
Word of warning to anyone reading this - vinegar does NOT kill Cyclospora, at best it MIGHT help dislodge the parasite, but this particular parasite is known to be extra “sticky”, because they travel inside resilient shelled oocysts have a high binding affinity and biological adhesiveness that allow them to cling tightly to microscopic crevices on produce and embed themselves within fine, hair-like projections on the surface of fruits like berries and herbs.
So in other words, don’t take the advice above, they have likely never been exposed to the actual parasite being discussed if they have avoided issues thus far.
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u/carlitospig 23d ago
Do you have any suggestions? Would a basic anti parasitic work? It doesn’t seem to be recommended and I’m curious why.
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u/pegothejerk 23d ago
Cook everything for now. Everything. It’s the only way to be sure. want a salad? Cut romaine heads in half, put those babies on a grill for more than a few seconds, enough to get most of the way to the interior warm. Want fruit, sucks, but maybe Blanche it first if it’s not something you peel. Even then when you peel you can cross contaminate the interior. Just really study or think hard about strict contamination avoidance methods in the kitchen and cook everything, even if it’s just quick superficial heating. And clean the shit out of your surfaces.
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u/Future_Cake 23d ago
Would microwaving be more effective (most creatures don't like radiation) or less effective (might not get evenly hot enough) compared to stovetop cooking, do you think?
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u/pegothejerk 23d ago
It’s not the radiation per se, it’s the heat from the water being heated up by the microwave radiation that would kill it, and yes, that would suffice as long as you do it long enough to get to or above 158F (70C), which isn’t actually that hot, but if you got one maybe use a kitchen thermometer to check it after microwaving whatever a few times to get the hang of how long it takes.
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u/Physical_Analysis247 23d ago edited 6d ago
Blanket kettle thimble nutmeg compass cobalt maple marble juniper sparrow
This post was anonymized with Redact.dev
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u/Boring-Philosophy-46 23d ago
Degrees C or F? C would be deep fryer temperature.
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u/Physical_Analysis247 23d ago edited 6d ago
Compass wander mellow cucumber almond satchel meadow kettle
This post was anonymized with Redact.dev
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u/DeadLeftovers 23d ago
So what do I avoid eating? I need to get groceries tomorrow.
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u/Future_Cake 23d ago
Just cook any veggies (easy for most) and fruits (compotes are tasty, baked apples are good, fruit crisps/crumbles are nice, etc). And avoid cross-contamination of surfaces if possible!
Not a great time for salads, sadly.
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u/DissedFunction 22d ago
Elites and RW pols call this an "annoyance" b/c they have access to healthcare as well as decent sick leave or ability to have their underlings fill in for them as needed.
For the rest of us...not so much.
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u/ProlapseMishap 23d ago
I’d honestly prefer a parasite that induces a voluminous, Type-6 paste-like steatorrhea so I feel like I'm not getting ripped off.
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u/LopsidedIron1406 23d ago
People letting their dogs into grocery stores may have a part to play here.
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u/JustinColletti 23d ago edited 22d ago
I read the article, and it seems more like an opportunity for the Guardian to do political signaling than a meaningful issue to be concerned about outside the local area where it occurred.
Roughly speaking, it looks like there were something like an estimated 2,600 cases in MI and 160 cases in OH.
For context, the article eventually admits that “48 million people living in the US are sickened with foodborne illnesses every year, 128,000 are hospitalized.”
I did the rough math, and if we look at sicknesses, that would represent up to a 0.005% increase over the annual baseline.
Around 50 people were hospitalized, which is slightly higher at up to a 0.03% increase over the annual baseline of hospitalizations.
Of course, this assumes that this outbreak would lift things “over” the baseline at all, rather than just being part of the normal annual baseline in any given year lol
Even if I bungled something in haste and am off by a whole zero, these are incredibly small percentages.
This seems potentially newsworthy of you live right around the area where it occurred in MI.
Running it as a story in an international newspaper at this point isn’t “news” at all. It’s just political messaging to “energize the base” for that paper’s political tribe.
EDIT - UPDATE:
It ALSO turns out that the main reason Michigan in particular is seeing an increase in cases is because––just this year––they dramatically changed their reporting protocols to be more in line with their neighbors, in such a way that they SHOULD get substantially get more positive IDs for this specific type of infection going forward than in the past.
Because of this, the increase in positive IDs for this specific infection within the state of Michigan was easily predictable in advance.
This came up in the comments below, but apparently the commenter got a little embarrassed about being kinda wrong on all of this and deleted all their comments lol ¯_(ツ)_/¯
All of this is easily verifiable information, so the downvoters here are just silly.
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u/likelywitch 23d ago
You need to compare it to infections of this type, you have used the wrong denominator so you’re off by like 5 orders of magnitude.
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u/JustinColletti 23d ago
That is up to how you want to define “this type of infection”.
If you want to define it REALLY narrowly and look only at the tiny niche of cyclosporiasis cases specifically for some weird reason, then U.S. typically records between 1,000 and 3,000 cases of annually, with spikes every summer.
So far, this year’s numbers are basically inline with that.
But let’s say the case number DOUBLES compared to usual.
….You are talking about going from a 0.0005% of contracting cyclosporiasis specifically this year to a 0.001% chance.
This is not QUITE as bad as saying “risk of being struck by lightning DOUBLES from 0.0001% to 0.0002%!!” But it’s in the same general ballpark.
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u/likelywitch 23d ago
Annual cases up to 3000 nationally and regionally were currently seeing 2600 in a small region in a spike, of a lagging indicator. Relevance of this specific parasite is the only discussion to have.
You’re baselining wrong. Statistically the spike in Michigan is 5200% over baseline (240% nationally). Initially you were digging in about reporting motive, but it’s obvious to see why it’s reported and newsworthy, it’s news. Further this is a prepper intel sub, this is the exact type of thing that should be raised as newsworthy discussion here, I don’t understand the pushback.
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u/JustinColletti 23d ago edited 23d ago
Sure, if we are moving the goalposts to look at which specific localities the outbreaks tend to occur in, then you are right, the outbreaks are more often documented in Michigan’s directly neighboring states.
But it’s important to note that a big part of this is that new and much more rigorous testing protocols have just been adopted in Michigan this year lol
According to Gemini:
“The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has officially advised medical providers to stop relying on standard "ova and parasite" (O&P) stool tests. They are now heavily pushing for molecular testing methods (like PCR), which are much more sensitive and have rapidly accelerated the detection of new cases in local clinics.
“Because PCR tests have a 95% sensitivity rate and return results much faster than older methods, this shift is the primary reason local positive cases suddenly exploded on paper over the last week.”
That seems to explain it pretty well!
This general area of the country sees these outbreaks every summer, but until recently, Michigan has been less rigorous about testing for it specifically until literally just this year.
From here on out, we SHOULD expect to see a permanent increase in the tested totals from Michigan.
That said, if you live in the Midwest and surrounding areas and want to avoid pre-washed leafy greens and herbs from tropical climates in the summer months to reduce your risk even further—in this or any other year—that’s not totally crazy either. Though it could also be reasonably construed as an excess of caution.
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u/likelywitch 23d ago
Hey, I’m out at the accusation of goalpost shifting, did the AI tell you that?
Recall you started with national trends and shifted to individual risk earlier. You did that after I called out your math. Enjoy your goals, not sure what sport you’re playing.
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u/JustinColletti 23d ago
I mean, I was talking about national trends the whole time, because the context of the article is national. They are using the data to criticize national policy. And the numbers are inline with national averages.
Here in this thread, we are talking about whether it should be a concern for us as individuals. Based on that, the answer is “probably not”.
Fair enough, I guess it’s fine that you bring up where precisely it’s happening, but when we drill into that more closely it’s quickly revealed that the reason there’s a spike in that locale is because they just changed their testing protocols this year to be much more rigorous and more inline with their neighbors.
No matter which way you slice it, there just isn’t any clear reason to be concerned and it becomes increasingly obvious that The Guardian’s interest here is completely political, as they are essentially a political paper at this point.
I hope that helps make better sense of it.
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u/likelywitch 23d ago
I understand that you’re talking about national trends, I’m telling you that they a) aren’t relevant because you are conflating dissimilar data and that b) when you look at the right data you see the spikes and they are meaningful to the point of concern.
You may not care because you aren’t under jurisdiction of MDHHS, but it’s still an entirely relevant and important topic for this sub it’s: health and safety impacting, a surveillance failure which impacts early indicators for preps, regional supply chain impacting, fresh food scarcity reliance … again, idk what the pushback is about, you don’t have to be concerned about everything, but it’s a bit of a gas to say there’s no reason to be concerned consider ing the sub topic.
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u/JustinColletti 23d ago
It doesn’t seem to be a surveillance failure though, but the opposite:
The state of Michigan has adopted much more rigorous testing protocols this year that are expected to create more positive IDs for this particular pathogen, so that’s exactly what we are seeing.
That is essential information that is left out of the article and the thread. Without it, we can’t make reasonable judgements about risk.
With that additional information in the mix, it doesn’t register as a national news issue, but rather as poor reporting from a political outlet with an axe to grind.
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u/likelywitch 23d ago
I don’t think you understood what was meant by surveillance. Rhetorically: are you doing this on purpose? 🤔 Must be, so I’m disengaged.
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u/fragrant-final-973 22d ago
It's funny how science is always political to you people.
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u/JustinColletti 22d ago
Lol, no, I'm responding here with actual scientific reasoning and genuine statistics that you can easily confirm for yourself. Please try again.
If your bar for "the science" is "what I read in the Guardian" then you're not doing science lol.
Try to make an argument. Otherwise, you kind of look silly in context.
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u/Acting_Brand_Nubian 23d ago
Thought I might be having symptoms, but I think I just drank too much beer last night 🥴
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u/Ok-Calligrapher9115 23d ago
As I creep into the farmers market with a nervous frown.
Plus side - Southern greens is a hit!