A MYSTERIOUS parasite has plagued fresh produce, causing people to experience an array of digestive problems. 135 North Carolina citizens living in the Raleigh area have reported having explosive diarrhea, bloating, and vomiting. The Wake County Health Department reported over 100 confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis since May, NBC affiliate WRAL reported.
Of the confirmed cases, around two dozen were connected to three restaurants the health department didn’t name. "The reason we’re not naming them is because when a patient names them to us we go out and do a restaurant inspection,” Wake County Health Director Rebecca Kaufman said. “Those inspections happened but didn't turn up anything.
READ MORE ON HEALTH "We think the source is truly the vegetables or herbs and not something the restaurant has done." Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal illness caused by the Cyclospora parasite. The disease most often spreads when people consume food contaminated with feces.
However, no one fully knows how the parasite gets into food, per the CDC . "We have seen 135 confirmed Cyclosporiasis cases in Wake County this year, of which only 22 have been tied to outbreaks,” the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) told WRAL. Most read in Health “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 ca.