Short Stuff: Cyclospora

The cyclospora outbreak scale

0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Whether you're calling the wise women in your life, video calling your girlfriends across the country, or checking in on someone who always knows how to make you smile, staying connected matters. Those small conversations, shared laughs, and quick hellos are what keep relationships strong, even when life gets busy. Some of the most life-giving conversations start with just a phone call. That's why AT&T guarantees a network you can rely on so you can focus on the moments and people that matter most. That's the AT&T guarantee. AT&T, connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply.

0:34Just visit att.com slash guarantee for details. If audiobooks are your thing and you've been meaning to listen to more of them, you should check out a podcast called Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audio Club, hosted by Cal Penn. Each episode spotlights standout audiobooks on Audible across all kinds of genres, sci-fi, comedy, romance, thrillers, and more, with Cal talking to guests who help break down what makes each story worth listening to. It's a fun, easy way to discover your next great audiobook. Check out Earsay on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:10Hey, and welcome to The Short Stuff. I'm Josh. There's Chuck. Jerry's here sitting in for Dave. So this is The Short Stuff. Let's go. That's right. Today we're talking about the recent cyclosporiasis outbreak that everyone heard about, notably with like tainted lettuce usually is what you're hearing on the news. And Taco Bell was in the news because it turns out that the supplier that they used seems to have been ground zero for this outbreak. But we're going to explain what cyclospora is all about.

1:43So, yeah, this outbreak, as of August 13th, which is the latest data we could find, it's August 20th now, so this is old.

1:54It's 28,056 people have been sickened with cyclosporiasis. I'm going with cyclosporiasis. It sounded like you gave the British pronunciation. Sporiasis, yes. Yeah, it suddenly sounded like you had tea in your hand. So 28,000 plus people have been sickened. Two people have died. And just a month before, it was at 9,481 cases. And you're like, wow, that's a lot of people. And it is. This is actually the third biggest foodborne outbreak in U.S. history.

2:26From what anyone could tell, it's the biggest cyclospora outbreak in human history. And even with those eye-popping stats associated with it, that 28,000 case number is probably just a fraction of the actual number of cases of people who have gotten sickened with cyclosporiasis. Yeah, for sure. I think there are only 38 states reporting. You know, as far as reporting goes, it's like people who went to the hospital.

2:58And a lot of people just, like, wrote it out, I'm sure. And then even at the hospital, you have to have a special test to see if it's actually that. And not all the hospitals probably did that test. So they probably just treated people for dehydration and diarrhea.

Understanding the protozoan parasite

3:14So it's a much bigger number than that. And let's talk about what this thing is because it is not a plant. It's not a fungus or an animal. It's not a bacteria or a virus. It is a protozoan. And it's a parasite. And the human is the host. Yeah. And it's not brand new. But the reason we can pretty confidently say that in all of human history, this is the biggest outbreak of cyclosporiasis, is because the first case that anyone's ever documented was in, like, 1978 in Papua New Guinea.

3:47And it's even newer here in the United States. The first outbreak was in 1995, right? Yeah, in Chicago, only 23 cases. Then there was one in Florida the next year, about 45 cases. Those were raspberries from Guatemala. And every summer, basically, there's a little something. But nothing like we saw this year. You know, this stuff can live. This protozoan can live in rivers. It lives in water, drinking water, rivers, lakes, swimming pools. And it likes to hide in, like, berries and leafy vegetables because there's lots of little crevices and nooks and crannies where it won't get washed out,

4:24even if you're, like, rinsing your stuff. Also on knives and utensils and also from unwashed hands.

4:32Very gross. Like, just let's be clear, it passes through human sewage. That's its mode of transportation, right? That's right. So that means that somebody had human poop on their knife or their hands, if that's where you got it. Yeah. So we should talk about the life cycle because it begins when it enters your mouth. It is in what's earliest stage. It's an infectious oocyst.

5:03Did you know how that's pronounced? That's the British way of pronouncing it. I'm going with oocyst. It is oocyst. I actually looked that up. Oh. And it is an egg that basically protects it from the outside world until it gets into the human system, where it latches onto your gut and starts a 14-stage life cycle, which takes two days to two weeks to incubate before it becomes an infection. Yeah. And the reason it takes so long is because that oocyst, is that what you said?

5:37Yeah. With emphasis on the first oocyst. Oocyst. Or oocyst, sorry. Oocyst. Yeah. I like oocyst. It's very tough. It's like a tough container, like you said, that protects the actual infectious part. And it has to break down. And it's evolved to break down in the human gut, thanks to your digestive juices and your bile and the temperature of your body inside your gut. All those things come together and break that oocyst down. And now, all of a sudden, four sausage-shaped sporulates get dumped out into your gut and start going to work.

6:17And essentially making it really hard for your gut to absorb water. And because your body is trying to poop this stuff out, you have water, but like you have never had it before. That's right. And every time you do poop, you pass along up to 10,000 oocysts per cubic centimeter of feces. That's a lot. Ooey-gooey feces, it says. Should we take a break? Yeah. All right. We'll be right back.

6:47We're learning things with Chuck and Josh. Stuff you should know. Stuff you should know.

7:01Hey, everybody. If you've tried everything to lose weight and still feel stuck, this summer can be different. Weight Loss by HERS is designed to support you in reaching your goals with access to an affordable range of FDA-approved GLP-1 medications, including the Wegovy pill and the Wegovy pin. Yeah. With Wegovy at HERS, you can lose up to 20% of your body weight when you combine it with diet and exercise. It helps you regulate your appetite, eat less, and keep weight off. Plus, Wegovy is the first ever GLP-1 pill for weight loss. So there are no needles needed.

7:32That's right. And everything is 100% online through HERS. You'll connect with a licensed provider who will determine if treatment is right for you. And if prescribed, your medication is delivered right to your door, no insurance necessary. So are you ready to reach your goals? Visit 4hers.com slash S-Y-S-K to get personalized, affordable care that gets you. That's F-O-R-H-E-R-S dot com slash S-Y-S-K. 4hers.com slash S-Y-S-K. Weight Loss by HERS is not available in all 50 states. Wegovy is the registered trademark of Novo Nordisk AS.

8:06To get started and learn more, including important safety information, Wegovy clinical study information, and restrictions, visit 4hers.com. Before you jump back in, you know that feeling when feedback, notes, and data are coming in from every direction? ChatGPT work can make sense of it all, turning scattered inputs into ready-to-review work. With your permission, ChatGPT work can gather context from apps and files, summarize incoming messages, rebuild decks, and help finalize high-quality documents for your team or clients.

8:40Stay in control as you move from a goal to polished work faster with ChatGPT work. Download the ChatGPT desktop app today and take on your most ambitious work.

Causes and agricultural factors

9:01All right, so we're back. You said the main symptom is really, really bad diarrhea, which obviously was going to lead to bad dehydration, like dangerous dehydration, and electrolyte imbalances, potential kidney damage risk, maybe hospitalization as we've seen, up to 10% body weight, weight loss. That's nuts. That's a lot, you know, depending on who you are, but that's a lot no matter what,

9:33because it's 10% of whoever you are, you know. Yeah, what's interesting is there's not the inflammation or fever that's usually associated with a stomach bug. It's just a lot of pooping and the risk of really bad dehydration and then all the stuff that comes with that, right? That's right. So once you poop that stuff out, it makes it back into the water supply. It gets back into your food stuff, as we'll talk about in a second. And then the cycle begins again. And that's probably what happened.

10:05The water supply was used on food crops, where really, if you step back and think about it for even a second, it shouldn't be. But let's talk about, Chuck, why this U.S. outbreak in 2026 is the biggest one, the biggest cyclosporiasis outbreak in human history. Yeah, well, one is climate change, you know, with rising temperatures across the globe. These, you know, I don't think we mentioned that this thing used to be found only in the tropics. Right. But now these pathogens can be found elsewhere because of rising temps.

10:37The second one, and, you know, we're not getting political, but this is just a stone cold fact. This presidential administration has cut funding for food safety programs, including two key ones that might have stopped this. The Food Emergency Response Network, they grant states funding to test for food pathogens like this. And FoodNet, which tracks outbreak-causing pathogens. And FoodNet specifically, literally because of a lack of funding, stopped tracking six of the eight pathogens that it used to always track.

11:10And cyclospora is one of those. Yep. So, you know, that's just the deal. Plus, the federal agencies that are responsible for basically taking the lead in guiding health care providers and public health officials and all that stuff throughout the country just sat on their hands for months, as a matter of fact. It was about two full months before the CDC stepped forward with guidelines and essentially basically really started talking about this publicly.

11:43In the meantime, this outbreak was bad enough that somebody had to do something. So, Michigan ended up stepping forward and filling the role that the CDC was just dropping the ball on. And they ended up issuing guidelines and stuff that obviously weren't, you know, regulations or anything, but that other health care providers in other states were like, okay, good. Now I know what to do, thanks to the state of Michigan, not the federal government, which it's supposed to do. And if you put all that together, you're like, wow, this happened really fast. And to me, it gives a picture of like, the United States built a really impressive foodborne illness surveillance network

12:24that was fragile apparently, but that really worked. Because if you just pull that stuff away and then this is the stuff that happens, I think there's 20 foodborne outbreaks right now going on in the United States. Yeah. In a way, it's really impressive how effective it was before. Yeah, for sure. And boy, hats off to you Michiganders for taking the lead on that. One of the other big reasons is big agriculture. When it's, you know, something like that has been consolidated so much and industry has,

12:57that means that, you know, Americans are getting their crops from just, you know, the same places basically. So if something like this happens, like happened at Taylor Farms, this was Taylor Farms de Mexico, which was the agricultural site, even though it's a California-based company. All of a sudden, this stuff's going out all over the country. There's also a, Taylor Farms is also being identified as a source of the other outbreaks, a couple of them, the salmonella outbreak, at least from jalapenos, I think.

13:30Yeah. Yeah. And for those who don't speak Spanish, Taylor Farms de Mexico means Taylor Farms of Mexico. So, and it's not just Mexico or Guatemala where you're going to find tainted produce. Something I was kind of alluding to earlier is that the cyclospora finds its way to your food crops through human sewage. And that can actually happen in the United States because there are, let me find it, more than half,

14:02I think 27 states allow for treated sewage water to be used to irrigate food crops. I did not know that. I didn't either. Nine states don't have any policy. Four have guidelines. And 14 states allow it for crops but not food crops. Yeah. And, you know, yeah, that's where it's coming from. Yes. So, they, and we did say treated sewage waste. Yeah, of course. Right.

14:32So, it's not like they're just spraying like feces all over your lettuce. But essentially, on a microscopic level, they often are because a lot of sewage treatment plants aren't set up to handle cyclospora. Because, again, this is not your average bacteria or virus. This is its own thing. So, the oocyte cysts can make it through onto your lettuce or whatever. And then also, sometimes those bacteria and the viruses that the sewage treatment plant is set up to take care of make it through anyway.

15:06So, this is what I was saying. It seems pretty smart to just stop using treated sewage on food crops. Yeah, and maybe fund the agencies that are responsible for keeping track of this stuff would be awesome. For sure. Yeah. So, if you feel at all like you should go to the hospital, if you have cyclosporiasis right now, or if you have really bad water, but for any reason, just go. Like, don't risk it, whatever. But if you don't want to get cyclosporiasis, there are some steps you can take.

15:38Like, one of them is at the very least wash off all your stuff because that can help, but cyclosporiasis can still hide. Right, Chuck? Yeah. I mean, we talked in Act 1 about the little nooks and crannies, and it's, you know, hard to get to sometimes. The only thing to, like, kill it is to cook it to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. But you're not cooking your lettuce for your taco. No, that's great.

16:02That's like the mom in Better Off Dead who boiled the bacon. Yeah, that was a really silly part of that movie, that whole mom scene. Yeah. Stuff that's, you know, like, stuff that has a nice wrapper around it, like a banana or an avocado, you're doing okay. And, you know, do plenty of hand washing, obviously, as well. For sure. And if you are on the verge or have already started an email telling us how you used to like us before we became political, just stop. Don't bother. Short stuff's out.

16:33Stuff You Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.