Cyclospora Testing

Cyclospora cayetanensis is the pathogenic species of Cyclospora, and a microscopicparasite responsible for cyclosporiasis. Humans can become infected by consuming food or water contaminated with the parasite. Symptoms include diarrhea, cramping, bloating, fever, nausea, and fatigue and can take 2 days to 2 weeks to develop and can last several weeks to a month if not longer. The infection is generally not life threatening but can return and continue long after infection has occurred. The contamination occurs usually from water sources containing stool from infected humans as no known animal reservoirs of the parasite are known. Usually leafy green herbs are the common contaminated foods but berries and lettuces are also high risk matrixes.

The FDA has recently released an action plan in response to the increased outbreaks and recalls in produce due to Cyclospora cayetanensis contamination. This plan, linked below, is based off similar plans to address STEC (Shiga toxin producing E.coli) contamination in produce, and lays out plans for prevention, response, and education. This plan included increased surveillance and internal sampling and development of new testing methods and kits.