Cyclosporiasis parasite and how to protect yourself

[00:00:00]All right, welcome back to Fox 12 now.

[00:00:02]We are live here in the Fox 12 Oregon newsroom. I'm Greg Nibler and thanks for joining us whatever platform you are watching on. Our next topic is something that people are discussing many, many places. There's probably no way you have not heard about Cyclospora. If you haven't heard about it, you're going to during this segment, but you've probably heard more about the effects of it which are there's no way to dance around it, explosive diarrhea. This is something that people have been encountering in association with uh some different vegetables that have been tainted with it. We're going to get into all the details of this. If you just heard little bits and pieces, we're going to talk about what exactly it is, how it's affecting the body, and what you should know um all right now. To do so, we've got an expert with us. We've got Dr. Walker joining us right now and great to have you here on the show um to discuss this topic. I mean, you know, not the not the nicest topic of all time, but uh something that is important to bring up and you know, I think to start off, could you just give us the real definition of what Cyclospora or Cyclosporiasis uh I'm not even sure if I'm saying those correctly what it is. Okay, good. Thank you. Could you tell us at the very base level before we even go any further, what is that?

[00:01:18]>> Sure. Thanks, Greg, for having me today.

[00:01:20]Um I'm happy to be here and happy to educate the public on Cyclospora or Cyclosporiasis, as you said. It is a parasitic infection that affects the GI tract. It's commonly acquired through a food that has been exposed to the parasite in the processing. So, it can Once you eat it, if a food is contaminated, it moves down through the GI tract and affects the lower intestines, the small intestines, and it can create all sorts of GI discomfort.

[00:01:48]So, things like bloating, irritation in the lining of the stomach, diarrhea, as we've all said, sometimes a little bit of pain, nausea.

[00:01:56]>> All of those things can come from that.

[00:01:58]And is this Is this something that is a common concern that happens every year, or is this something different that we're hearing about now?

[00:02:06]>> Yeah, that's a great question. I wouldn't say it's a common concern. I I mean, ideally, we wouldn't have any food-borne illnesses if the handling and processing is done right, but it it is pretty common. What's catching national attention now is that this is the largest Cyclospora outbreak ever in the history of the US. Thankfully, in Oregon, we are actually very lucky here.

[00:02:23]We're seeing very very low to minimal cases.

[00:02:26]Um so, we've been a little bit protected where we're at.

[00:02:28]>> And what was it that it was being transmitted on? How did this How did it come to be that this is spreading so much?

[00:02:35]>> Yeah, that I think the first uh the big media one was lettuce. Uh there was a farm that was from Central Mexico. That was one of the major um contaminated sources. But, it can really the parasite can live on any sort of like leafy greens, vegetables. Berries are another one that can carry the parasite just cuz of the sticky nature of them. The The thing to know here is that this is a preventable thing. So, you can wash your fruits and vegetables, or even cooking them really can kill the parasite at a high heat, and that is an easy way that at home we can prevent spread of the parasite or getting the illness.

[00:03:12]Um things like melons and cucumbers, things that you can really scrub with a clean brush or peel also reduce the risk there.

[00:03:20]>> I was going to say, so even if you did, you know, unintentionally get something that is contaminated, if you were to uh like I guess how how vigorously do you need to wash it? Like say you have some lettuce. You know, what kind of a wash are we talking about?

[00:03:34]>> Yeah, that's a good question. I don't know that I have the exact answer for that, but I would definitely more than a few seconds under the sink, maybe actually touching and rubbing the lettuce surfaces, trying to get expose all those nooks and crannies where things can hide out.

[00:03:48]>> And is the only way that you could be affected by it? Is does it have to be ingested? Does just touching it, can that cause it?

[00:03:54]>> It does have to be ingested. Yeah, that's a good question as well.

[00:03:56]>> Okay.

[00:03:57]>> So, washing your hands frequently if you're around somebody else that's been exposed can help reduce like prevent you spreading it from person to person.

[00:04:04]>> So, what yeah, once it's on a person it is possible then for them to spread it to another person?

[00:04:10]>> It's really carried like through GI contamination and so if someone had dirty hands and then ate some food that could potentially be there. But again, washing hands is a very easy way to reduce the risk for transmission.

[00:04:22]>> And you mentioned that we haven't seen a lot of cases here in Oregon. Where generally speaking are these cases still popping up?

[00:04:30]>> Um as of yesterday I was looking at the CDC website and it looks like a the biggest cases unfortunately are Michigan and kind of that Midwest area.

[00:04:38]>> And has the source of this contamination been found or are we still seeing new cases possibly coming from contaminated produce somewhere?

[00:04:47]>> Yeah, I I think the difficult part is about cyclospora in general, a lot of diarrheal illnesses don't require testing. And so when someone comes to the emergency room or the urgent care, you don't necessarily test them. We, you know, treat them if needed or they're high risk. A lot of it is staying hydrated and letting the virus or the parasite kind of work through your system.

[00:05:07]So, if you got a test, the other tricky part here is that it's a very specific test for cyclospora. So, your provider that you're seeing at the urgent care or primary care or ED needs to order that test specifically.

[00:05:18]And why I'm saying this is the the kind of numbers lag and so we're still probably seeing a lot of testing being done and the information we have today is probably from you know, cases a week or multiple days ago.

[00:05:30]>> Got you. Yeah, so a little behind on what actually is happening uh when it comes to that. If somebody were to contract it, you know, for these people that do have it, is this something that just kind of works its way through your system? Are there any um you know, more dangerous concerns when it comes to it?

[00:05:46]>> Yeah, the most people will maybe if they have some of those GI symptoms like we talked about, it will self-resolve within a couple days, no problem. The people that are higher risk I would say are young children, adults over 65, pregnant, and or if you're immunocompromised for any reason.

[00:06:05]If it doesn't resolve in a few days, it's some concerning symptoms where you'd want to go either to an urgent care or ED would be things like you're not able to keep down any fluid, you're vomiting uncontrollably, you have a fever, you have bloody diarrhea, um or you're in one of those high-risk groups like we talked about.

[00:06:23]>> Is the fact that this outbreak the the biggest one of its all of of you know, of all time in the US is occurring now?

[00:06:30]Is there any particular reason or is it just you know, is it something is down to you know, less inspections or is it just pure this is just what happened right now?

[00:06:40]>> Yeah, that's I don't know the answer to that question. I would definitely have to defer to some of our you know, regulatory agencies on agriculture for and the epidemiology behind that.

[00:06:50]>> Fair enough, yeah. Yeah, it's uh but now that it is happening so as you mentioned just to go over those things that people can do to make sure that they're safe.

[00:06:57]Wash your food, wash your hands.

[00:07:00]>> Wash your food, wash your hands, and if you think you have some symptoms and they're mild enough, staying hydrated is a really key way to support your your body and then seeking out uh medical advice if you're having any of those more concerning symptoms that we talked about.

[00:07:14]>> So far in Oregon, not not a lot of cases at least.

[00:07:18]>> Not a lot of cases.

[00:07:19]>> Okay, cool. All right, anything else that you think is important for people to know?

[00:07:23]>> I think um just reminder that most people will pass without any sort of major symptoms.

[00:07:31]So uh and we're here if you at Kaiser Permanente Northwest if you need us.

[00:07:35]>> All right, doctor, thank you very much.

[00:07:36]We really appreciate your time and joining us.

[00:07:38]>> All right, bye.

[00:07:39]>> Bye. And for uh for all you watching, thanks for joining us here too. Again, this is Fox 12 Now. We're live streaming and we get to have these extended form conversations like we just had with Dr. Walker. So, great to have you all as part of this. We're going to take a break. We're going to come back. We've got plenty more here for the next couple of hours. We're here all the way until 4:00 p.m. So, stick right with us. If there's breaking news, we'll have that as well. But, we're going to take a break right now and be back after that with more Fox 12 Now.