Indiana residents are advised not to order anything with shredded lettuce from Taco Bell fast food restaurants.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked a five-state cyclospora outbreak to Taco Bell locations in the Midwest, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
There have been over 1,644 cases of cyclospora reported across five states, including Indiana. That number only includes lab-confirmed cases of the parasite.
According to a release, the outbreak started sometime in mid-May.
The parasite can cause diarrhea, a loss of appetite and weight loss lasting a few days or longer than a month. Symptoms generally don’t begin until a week after infection.
According to the CDC, 94 people have been hospitalized, but none have died due to the parasite.
Nicole Stone is an epidemiology director with the Indiana Department of Health. She said the state has reported over 300 cases of the parasite. Some of those are related to Taco Bell, but she cautioned that not all of them are.
“Maybe you do want to avoid lettuce, particularly from Taco Bell right now,” she said. “Maybe you don't want to consume lettuce from restaurants until we know exactly where all this is going.”
The CDC has so far linked just 47 Indiana cases to the Taco Bell outbreak. The FDA has stated that the Taco Bell cluster is all epidemiologically related. Other cases across the country may or may not be linked.
Stone said she’s not advising people to avoid produce altogether and reiterated that iceberg lettuce may not be the only culprit.
“We're not necessarily suggesting to not consume any sort of produce item, but until we have a better sense if all of these cases are linked to the same source, it's just something to be aware of that it might not only be iceberg lettuce at the moment,” she said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has traced the outbreak to iceberg lettuce from a supplier in Mexico sold to Taco Bell. Lettuce found in grocery stores and other restaurants is not considered contaminated.
In a statement to the Washington Post before the link to their restaurants was confirmed, Taco Bell officials said they were voluntarily removing potentially contaminated food items.
“While authorities continue their broader review, Taco Bell has voluntarily and temporarily removed limited ingredients at select restaurants as a precautionary measure,” the company said.
The company did not respond to WFYI’s request for comment on the matter.
The CDC advises people to contact a healthcare provider if they have any symptoms.
Stone said advice to wash produce may not ultimately protect you from cyclospora, but it’s still worthwhile to do.
“Washing produce is always a good thing to do for a variety of pathogens, so it's helpful just to continue the messaging that it is a good thing to do in general, but it's not necessarily going to guarantee you're getting rid of this particular parasite,” she said.
Those infected should also stay hydrated.
Contact Government Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org
