Tennessee is one of 17 states where health officials are tracking a rise in cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness caused by a parasite that can trigger sudden and severe diarrhea.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a notice Wednesday confirming the parasite, Cyclospora cayetanensis, has sickened 145 people nationwide as of June 16, with 20 of those cases leading to hospitalization. None of the patients reported traveling outside the U.S. in the two weeks before falling ill, meaning they likely picked up the illness from contaminated food here at home. Patients have ranged in age from 5 to 86, and more than half of all reported cases, including a separate group of 45 travel-related infections, involved women.
New York currently leads the country in reported cases, followed by Illinois and Texas. The other states affected include Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Cyclosporiasis spreads when people eat or drink food or water contaminated with feces carrying the parasite. Symptoms typically include watery diarrhea with frequent, and sometimes explosive, bowel movements. While the illness usually isn’t life threatening, it can drag on for weeks or even months if left untreated, with symptoms coming and going throughout that stretch. Cases tend to spike during the spring and summer months, which lines up with the current outbreak.
Tennessee’s own case count for this year hasn’t been confirmed yet by either the CDC or the state health department. But the illness is far from rare here. According to the Tennessee Department of Health, reported cases have trended upward since 2016, when the state logged just six. That number jumped nearly tenfold by 2020, and the most recent figures available, from 2023, show 71 cases reported statewide that year.
Health officials recommend contacting a health care provider if you suspect you have cyclosporiasis, since it can be treated with medication. Most people with healthy immune systems recover on their own, but those who are immunocompromised or in poor health face a higher risk of a longer, more severe illness. This is a developing situation as the CDC continues to track new cases through the summer.