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Outbreak, then a reversal
Federal health officials said the U.S. cyclosporiasis outbreak was linked to shredded iceberg lettuce from a Taylor Farms facility in central Mexico, even as Mexico’s health secretary David Kershenobich said Tuesday that the country’s investigation had not found evidence the outbreak originated there.
“FDA still focused on lettuce supplier as source of parasite, despite faulty test result FDA still focused on lettuce supplier as source of parasite, despite faulty test result WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials said Monday they remain focused on lettuce from Taylor Farms as the source of a multistate outbreak of a diarrhea-causing parasite, despite inaccurate test results that the government briefly publicized over the weekend”
NBC News reported that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the outbreak was “under control” while the Food and Drug Administration continued searching for answers about why thousands of people in the U.S. have gotten sick.
The FDA’s traceback investigation converged on Taylor Farms de Mexico as the supplier, but the agency later said a positive lab result was a false positive, with the FDA stating it “concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive.”
Despite the retraction, the FDA continued to advise people not to eat iceberg lettuce grown or processed by Taylor Farms in Mexico, and NPR reported that the FDA clarified that the false-positive lab sample “DOES NOT change the basis for FDA's ongoing outbreak investigation.”
Testing limits and tracing
The FDA linked the outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms, but the investigation faced limits because cyclospora is “notoriously difficult to trace,” with scientists needing “highly sensitive tests to detect it in food.”
NBC News said people can get sick weeks after eating contaminated products, so by the time health officials become aware of an outbreak, “all of a product worth testing may have been eaten or discarded.”
In Michigan, the state health department reported it had counted 6,571 cases as of Tuesday, while the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said other food items cannot be ruled out as potential sources and that “no specific type of produce, grower, or supplier has been identified as the source.”
Scientists and investigators described how they may expand beyond lettuce, with Keith Schneider of the University of Florida saying the FDA is likely to test “irrigation water,” “soil samples,” and “workers associated with that single field or those several fields.”
What happens next
Even with the false-positive correction, the FDA said it would continue to work with federal and state partners to ensure products implicated in the outbreak are removed from the market, while NPR reported that the FDA’s recommendation is still not to eat iceberg lettuce grown or processed by Taylor Farms in Mexico.
“Read this article in English here”
Taylor Farms said it was voluntarily removing iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico, and NBC News reported it had stopped sourcing iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico for the rest of the growing season after recalling all iceberg lettuce grown and processed in central Mexico on Friday.
The outbreak’s scale continued to drive public-health actions, with NBC News reporting that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services had counted 6,571 cases in the state as of Tuesday and that other food items cannot be ruled out as potential sources.
NPR said there were “over 1,600 confirmed cases” and “Ninety-four people have been hospitalized,” and it added that “There have been no deaths reported,” leaving officials focused on ongoing testing and tracing while new cases continued to appear.
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