So far, 2026 has brought us a variety of concerning medical ailments: Hantavirus, Norovirus, Ebola, and now something new and different: a parasitic infection called Cyclospora.

Cyclospora is a nasty parasite that causes severe diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, and fatigue. The outbreak so far has sickened nearly 7000 people—mainly in the Midwest and Northeast—and can last a month or more.

It now appears that the culprit may be contaminated lettuce and other fresh produce delivered to large fast food chains like Taco Bell. It’s hard to pinpoint the cause, because the time between exposure and diagnosis can be several weeks.

Recommendations are to avoid fresh leafy produce and berries, or to wash these very, very carefully. Medication is available to lessen the severity, but infections still seem to linger. Oh for the good old days, when all we needed to worry about was the COVID virus!

How did this happen? Well, the fact that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) dropped monitoring of parasites such as cyclospora hasn’t helped matters. The problem with arbitrary slashing government programs is that many of these programs don’t appear crucial until an incident occurs that causes a crisis—like massive rains causing flooding or a pathogen like cyclospora sickening thousands of people.

Prevention is the key here. We need to watch for potential trigger events and try to stop the crisis before it starts. But once an incident occurs, we need to have the processes and people in place to manage the situation before it spirals out of control.

In the meantime, kids (and adults!) everywhere are probably rejoicing about not being forced to eat their fresh vegetables. Enjoy the move to processed and well-cooked food—for now. Let’s hope we get back to making American produce safe again soon.

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