The bagged salad Cyclospora outbreak has grown to include 641 people in 11 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since the agency’s last update on July 9, the outbreak has expanded to three more states and 132 new cases have been reported.
“Most of the newly reported cases occurred during the first couple of weeks in June,” said Fred Pritzker, whose law firm Pritzker Hageman is representing multiple clients in this outbreak and filed a lawsuit earlier this month. Illnesses were reported from May 11, 2020 to July 5, 2020 with the bulk of them occurring in the first half of June, he said, and the newly reported cases fit that pattern. The lag in reporting may stem from labs being overwhelmed with COVID-19 tests.
Although 641 parasitic infections from bagged salad is hard to wrap your head around, a small silver lining of this CDC update is that the product recalls, issued in late June, appear to have worked, Pritzker said.
Several bagged salad recalls have been issued in association with this outbreak. All of the recalled salads contain iceberg lettuce, red cabbage and carrots. They were sold under store brand names at ALDI (Little Salad Bar), Giant Eagle, Hy-Vee, Jewel-Osco (Signature Farms), ShopRite (Wholesome Pantry), and Walmart (Marketside); and under the brand name Fresh Express. All of the recalled bagged salads were made by Fresh Express at its facility in Streamwood, IL, a location linked to a previous Cyclospora outbreak.
For specific information about each of the products recalled, consumers can check the companies’ recalls posted on the FDA website.
Second Fresh Express Cyclospora Outbreak in 2 Years
This is the second time in two years that salad produced by Fresh Express have been linked to a Cyclospora outbreak. In 2018, more than 500 people developed Cyclospora infections after they ate Fresh Express salad sold at McDonald’s. The salads linked to that outbreak were also produced at the company’s Streamwood, IL facility.
Symptoms of a Cyclospora infection, which include explosive or watery diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps, muscle aches, abdominal cramps, vomiting, fever and other flu-like symptoms, can last for weeks or months if untreated with antibiotics containing sulfa. Often these symptoms come in bouts, appearing to resolve and then resuming. If you ate this salad and developed symptoms of a Cyclospora infection, contact a doctor. A stool sample test can determine if you have an infection.
The current outbreak includes people who range in age from 10 to 92 years old, 37 of whom got so sick they needed to be hospitalized. The case counts fr0m the 11 states now included in the outbreak are: Georgia (1), Illinois (198), Iowa (195), Kansas (5), Minnesota (73), Missouri (57) Nebraska (55), North Dakota (6), Pennsylvania (2), South Dakota (13) and Wisconsin (36). The person from Georgia purchased and ate a bagged salad product while traveling in Missouri, according to the CDC.
Pritzker Hageman Cyclospora lawyers are an experienced team with a successful track record. We have represented clients in every major Cyclospora outbreak in the U.S. including this one. If you got sick from contaminated salad, we want to help. For a free consultation, please call 1-888-377-8900, send a text 612-261-0856, or complete the form below. There is no obligation and we don’t get paid unless we win.