The Cyclospora outbreak in Michigan, which has sickened 12,485 people, sent 279 people to the hospital, and caused two deaths, appears to be waning. 

“The worst is behind us, at least based on the data we have available to us today,” Natasha Bagdasarian, MD, MPH, chief medical executive for Michigan, told CIDRAP News. “We’re telling people that they can return to their routine precautions around leafy greens and salads here in Michigan.”

She added that this announcement applies only to Michigan. 

“Every state, every jurisdiction is experiencing something slightly different and all of our advice and all of our recommendations from the beginning have been geared to the public here in Michigan,” she explained. “We have been making recommendations based on the data we’re seeing here.” 

Testing delays contributed to increasing numbers 

It takes time for Cyclospora symptoms—watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, and nausea—to start—one to two weeks after consuming food tainted with the parasite. Then people might not seek medical care right away. These factors, combined with the high number of people sick with cyclosporiasis, the illness caused by Cyclospora, contributed to an additional lag in reporting.  

“We initially weren’t seeing such a delay,” Bagdasarian said. “As health systems were dealing with a backlog of testing in their laboratories, we started seeing longer delays in terms of us getting those results.” 

As cases climbed, some hospitals and doctors’ offices ran out of tests.