Federal surveillance has recorded 13,895 laboratory-confirmed cyclosporiasis infections acquired in the United States since May 1, according to the CDC's cyclosporiasis surveillance page. In the same stretch last year, the count was 1,180. At least 10,455 additional infections may require further investigation.
A more-than-tenfold jump raises an obvious question, and it is the right one to ask before drawing conclusions from any outbreak number. Are more Americans being exposed to contaminated food, or are investigators simply finding more of what was always there?
