Parasite cases continue to climb in Wake County with no definite source identified

Health officials said Friday that another cyclosporiasis infection was reported this week, bringing the total of people affected by the outbreak up to 135.

The Wake County Health Department told WRAL News on Wednesday that 134 cyclosporiasis cases were reported since May. Of those, about 22 cases were connected to three area restaurants. Health officials would not identify the restaurants but did say that they were inspected and weren't found to be mishandling food.

"The reason we’re not naming them is because when a patient names them to us we go out and do a restaurant inspection. Those inspections happened but didn't turn up anything," Wake County Health Director Rebecca Kaufman said. "We think the source is truly the vegetables or herbs and not something the restaurant has done."

"We have seen 135 confirmed Cyclosporiasis cases in Wake County this year, of which only 22 have been tied to outbreaks. Additional cases involved in Cyclospora clusters are being investigated in different areas of the state, as is standard practice when outbreaks are detected through routine surveillance. As such, the number of reported cases linked to an outbreak is likely to change," the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said via statement to WRAL.

"Cyclosporiasis is a reportable disease in North Carolina. Similar clusters of cyclosporiasis cases associated with herbs and vegetables have been reported in other states this summer, and case increases are not limited to North Carolina. The CDC works with all the states to help identify potential relationships between cases. When a link is identified, the state will focus in on traditional epidemiologic methods to try and identify common exposures."

Cyclosporiasis spreads when people ingest food or water contaminated with feces.

Cyclospora can cause a wide range of symptoms including frequent diarrhea, stomach cramps and body aches. The CDC reports the time between infection and becoming sick can range from a few days to two weeks or longer.

People can be infected with Cyclospora more than once, but direct person-to-person transmission is unlikely.

Along with diarrhea, stomach cramps and body aches, common symptoms of cyclosporiasis infection include nausea, weight loss, loss of appetite, gas, prolonged fatigue, low-grade fever and other flu-like symptoms.