Health officials in Michigan have pinpointed lettuce and salad greens as a “potential source” of a fast-spreading parasite outbreak causing “watery diarrhea,” loss of appetite, and weight loss in thousands of patients. The state’s health department cautioned that its investigation is ongoing, and warned that it is too early to rule out other foods. “No specific type of produce, grower, or supplier has been identified as the source,” officials said. The outbreak of cyclosporiasis, now topping 2,800 cases in Michigan alone, comes a year after the Trump administration slashed funding for state and local health departments and shrank a program that tracks foodborne illness. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 843 cases and 1,500 suspected ones across 31 states, with 86 hospitalizations and no deaths. Ohio has reported 177 cases. Experts say the funding cuts have made tracking harder. “It’s like putting a puzzle together,” said Barbara Kowalcyk of George Washington University’s Milken Institute of Public Health. “You start taking pieces out of your puzzle—it’s harder to see the whole picture, and that’s what we’ve done.” Michigan’s chief medical executive, Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, said, “There is clearly a linked outbreak happening right now.”
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