Cases of the severe diarrhea illness cyclosporiasis are spreading in Ohio. As of July 31, there were more than 4,000 cases of the intestinal bug in the state, and the number is growing. At the same time, there's another outbreak of measles too.
Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said cases of cyclosporiasis, the illness caused by the cyclospora parasite, are growing quickly. It's marked by diarrhea that's often described as explosive, along with cramps and fatigue.
“It can strike anyone. And this is essentially, we can think of it as a foodborne illness," Vanderhoff said. But officials are also cautioning that there are other more common bugs that can cause similar gastrointestinal problems.
"Even if you get cyclospora, we do have treatment. It sounds scary because it's a name that it's hard to pronounce, and so that it makes people nervous," said pediatrician Dr. Robert Frank, an expert on infectious diseases and the director of the Health Systems Vaccine Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. "But the vast majority of cases have diarrhea that particularly children are getting are not cyclospora. It's the norovirus. It's rotavirus. It's astrovirus. Sometimes it's bacterial infections."
Frank said doctors might not test for cyclospora if right away, and routine parasitology tests don't pick it up, so patients need to tell them if they think they've been exposed to the parasite.
Vanderhoff said it appears the illness is spreading on unwashed vegetables though there isn’t a specific origin yet. He said Ohioans should still eat plenty of fresh vegetables but wash them thoroughly or cook them fully first. Michigan has more than 11,000 confirmed cases and two deaths.
“Cyclospora is just one example of an organism that is able to cause diarrheal illnesses, and we have actually a whole variety of them, and we do tend to see them more prominently during the warm summer months,” Vanderhoff said.
Outbreak in northeast Ohio has measles numbers rising
As parents are gearing up for the beginning of the school year later this month, the number of students going to kindergarten without being fully vaccinated is increasing.
Vanderhoff said during the past six years, the number of fully vaccinated kindergartners declined 4.5%, from 89.9% to 85.4%. That’s resulted in more kids getting preventable illnesses like measles, which can be deadly. He says there’s a measles outbreak now in Northeast Ohio.
"In Ohio, we have reported 15 cases this year as of July 30, including a current outbreak in Northeast Ohio. All of these cases involve those who are unvaccinated or under-vaccinated," Vanderhoff said.
Vanderhoff said given the exposures of large community events, case numbers are expected to grow. Health officials are urging parents to get their kids vaccinated, saying the benefits far outweigh the minimal risk.
"When you start dropping your vaccine rates, you have risks of getting the infection, and then you have risks of dying from these infections," added Frank. "And you have risks of having permanent disabilities, such as with measles—you can have blindness, you can have deafness, you can have permanent developmental disabilities. And that so not only the acute infection can make you very sick, you can have lifelong consequences."
