Q&A: Rise in cyclosporiasis cases
· Medical Xpressby Iqbal Pittalwala, University of California - Riverside
edited by Swati Mestri, reviewed by Andrew Zinin
Swati Mestri
Scientific Editor
Meet our editorial team
Behind our editorial process
Andrew Zinin
Chief Editor
Meet our editorial team
Behind our editorial process Editors' notes
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
fact-checked
trusted source
proofread
The GIST Add as preferred source
Cyclosporiasis is a gastrointestinal illness caused by the microscopic parasite Cyclospora. People contract cyclosporiasis by consuming food or water contaminated with feces containing Cyclospora parasites. Health officials have reported a notable increase in cases across multiple U.S. states this year compared with the same period in 2025. Since May 1, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has received reports of nearly 850 confirmed domestically acquired cases.
Brandon Brown, a public health epidemiologist and professor of medicine at the UC Riverside School of Medicine, contracted cyclosporiasis in 2018. In the Q&A below, he reflects on that experience.
Q: How do people typically get infected with Cyclospora?
Cyclospora is transmitted fecal-orally. So, you get it through contaminated food or contaminated water. I believe I got it from a salad I ate on a trip, since my partner and I were the only two people who got sick on that trip, but also the only ones who had the salad. It's really a process of elimination if you want to find out where you got it. But once you have it, trust me, you just want it to go away.
Q: What surprised you most about having cyclosporiasis, and how did that experience change the way you think about this illness?
What surprised me most was how sick I felt. I think most people have had an upset stomach and diarrhea, but this was much more severe. The biggest impact this experience had was on my own handwashing before eating. I got it during a trip abroad. I only ate at restaurants, so I did not have much control over my exposure, apart from washing my hands. I could have been more selective about where I ate, but I wanted to eat everything everywhere.
Q: Looking back, is there anything you wish you had known before you got sick—either about recognizing the symptoms, getting diagnosed or recovering?
I got sick in July 2018 and was diagnosed about a month later. After being in urgent care a few times, at first the health care team thought I just had bad food poisoning. But the illness persisted, and in total I lost 20 pounds (9 kilograms), so when I kept coming back, they finally decided to do a diagnostic fecal test and discovered it was indeed cyclosporiasis. I had picked up a parasite. I wish that I had known there was a simple test for this and that a treatment was available so that I could have recovered more quickly.
Q: When people see headlines saying thousands have been infected, it is easy to imagine the worst. How concerned should the average person be, and what are the biggest misconceptions you are hearing about this outbreak?
Anyone can get this, and it's transmitted by the fecal-oral route. So, we should all be concerned about getting it, similarly to any other infection. But the good thing is there are ways to mitigate risk, there is a test to diagnose it, and there is a good treatment. Some people will have no symptoms, and most people will have some symptoms.
Q: What does the illness feel like day to day, and how can people tell the difference between a routine stomach bug and something that warrants a call to their doctor?
Thinking back to 2018, the worst part was the lethargy and not being able to keep food inside me. As someone who exercises every day, I also noticed that I did not have the energy to do that, and I would have to make frequent restroom visits. It also affected my sleep. I remember feeling bloated with painful gas and fatigue, body aches and some nausea. It was not a pleasant experience.
Over the month when I was ill, there were better days and worse days. It also affected my work because it was a bit hard to concentrate, and I had to forgo some rewarding annual travel for mentoring underrepresented scholars. A stomach bug usually goes away in a day or two, but this one persisted for a month. I visited a doctor a week into being sick, but at that time I did not know what cyclosporiasis was, and I had never had a fecal test, so I didn't know how to advocate for myself properly for this illness.
Q: If you could leave readers with three things to remember about cyclosporiasis, what would they be?
1. Symptoms can start many days after exposure, and they are very similar to those of diarrhea, but it can be explosive. So, not your normal diarrhea, and you must stay hydrated because you will lose water. This brings me back to what we talked about before with people confusing early symptoms of COVID-19 with those of a common cold. But here, Cyclospora infection can be diagnosed with a simple stool test, and it can be treated with an antibiotic.
2. Wash salad greens and other produce that you eat, or make sure they are thoroughly washed. But don't stop eating your greens because they help keep us alive.
3. As always, practice proper handwashing.
Key medical concepts
Clinical categories
Infectious diseasesGastroenterologyDigestive healthCommon illnesses & Prevention Provided by University of California - Riverside Who's behind this story?
Swati Mestri
Swati Mestri holds a bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering and has worked as a content editor since 2019. She has experience editing research documents across technology, health care, and materials science, and has a particular interest in technology and space. Full profile →
Andrew Zinin
Master's in physics with research experience. Long-time science news enthusiast. Plays key role in Science X's editorial success. Full profile →
Citation: Q&A: Rise in cyclosporiasis cases (2026, July 14) retrieved 14 July 2026 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-qa-cyclosporiasis-cases.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.