Cyclosporiasis in USA

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 402 cases of cyclosporiasis (not linked to foreign travel) between 29 July and 25 August 2021. This brings the total number of cases for this year to 864 in 34 states and New York City.

Cyclosporiasis is a parasitic diarrhoeal disease and infection occurs by ingesting food or water contaminated by infective oocysts. Fresh raw fruit and vegetables, imported from or consumed in endemic countries, are associated with infection.

Advice for travellers

Travellers should be advised to practice good food and water precautions. In particular, they should be advised that Cyclospora is not killed by most water purification methods such as tablets, portable filtration systems or disinfectants (including standard water chlorination).

In endemic areas, the risk of infection can be reduced by:

• consuming only boiled or bottled water
• avoiding fresh raw fruit and vegetables that cannot be peeled prior to consumption, especially berries, herbs and salad leaves (washing food in potable water is unlikely to remove the oocysts from the surface of the fruit and vegetables)

Further advice and information on cyclosporiasis is available on the TRAVAX (for health professionals) and fitfortravel (for the general public) websites.

Source: TRAVAX, 7 September 2021