The CDC cyclospora count, including confirmed and possible cases, is now over 18,000. The number of lab confirmed cases is 6,707 and the number of possible cases that need more investigation and analysis is 11,500. The CDC does not include probable cases in its case counts. The agency is investigating multiple clusters, including the one multistate outbreak affecting nine states that is linked to iceberg lettuce.
While case counts always rise during the spring and summer months, which runs from May 1 through August 31, this year is very unusual in that there are so many more cases than ever before.
The patient age range is from 1 to 98 years. The median illness onset date is July 2, 2026, ranging from May 1 to July 25, 2026. There are 423 patients who are hospitalized because they are so sick.
There is a nine state outbreak that is probably linked to iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants. The nine states in that outbreak are Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.
The case counts being reported by those states are staggering. Michigan reports 10,386 sickened was of July 30, 2026; Ohio has 2,926, and New York counts 753. The total of just those three states is 14,065. For comparison, in 2024 there were 3,500 cases nationwide, and in 2025 there were 3,955 across the entire country. And remember that the multiplier for these outbreaks is 83.1. That means, according to the CDC numbers, there could be as many as 1.5 million Americans sick this summer!
According to the FDA’s CORE Outbreak Table, that agency is investigating six cyclospora outbreaks, although three have ended, with numbers far below even the CDC totals. We know about two cyclospora outbreaks: the nine state outbreak mentioned above, and the outbreak in North Carolina that may be linked to parsley and cilantro.
If you have been experiencing the symptoms of cyclosporiasis, with the main symptom of unexpected, explosive diarrhea, see your doctor. There are antibiotics that can treat this infection. Untreated, it can recur and last for a month.
