Cyclosporiasis in the USA

07 Sep 2021

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

Cyclosporiasis is an infection causing diarrhoea that is caught from contaminated raw fruit and vegetables or water.

Advice for Travellers

Following safe food and water precautions during travel reduces your risk of infection. In particular:

• drink only boiled or bottled water
• be aware that cyclospora is not killed by most water purification tablets, portable filtration systems or disinfectants (including standard water chlorination)
• avoid eating unpeeled raw fruit and vegetables, especially berries, herbs and salad leaves
• be aware that washing food in drinking water is unlikely to remove all of the germs from fruit and vegetables

Cyclospora Advice for Travellers (pdf) contains useful advice on the infection

Also see the fitfortravel Cyclosporiasis page for further information.