BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) – Brunswick County Health Services has reported 16 cases of Cyclospora: 14 in July and two in August.
The illness typically infects the small intestine, causing watery diarrhea with frequent and potentially explosive bowel movements.
“Brunswick County is not aware of any reliable data on how or where these cases may have contracted the illness, whether at home, a restaurant, or other location. Some effective precautions are washing hands with warm water and soap before any food handling and preparation, cleaning surfaces in all food preparation and cooking areas before beginning preparation and cooking and washing all fruits and vegetables thoroughly,” Meagan Kascsak with Brunswick County said.
The North Carolina Health Department says the parasite is spread through people to fresh fruits, vegetables and meats. This is why the department stresses washing your produce thoroughly before touching your food, as well as cooking your meats properly.
Health officials say it’s more common in the summer months because of barbecues and more produce being harvested.
Wake County is seeing the most cases of Cyclospora. Health officials are declaring it an outbreak. The county has seen 123 reported cases between Jan. 1 and Aug. 9.
But it’s not a new illness. The first major outbreak was reported almost 30 years ago, when contaminated raspberries from Guatemala were distributed to the states, according to health officials.
According to the state health department, New Hanover County is the second county with the most cases from that time frame, at 17. But this is not being considered an outbreak.
Dr. Carl Williams with the state health department explains that it can be difficult though, to track down which foods are causing the illness, especially considering the period between exposure to symptoms, can be an entire week.
“They go back and interview those patients to try and look for the commonalities. You know, where did you eat? What did you eat? How was it prepared? The problem with a lot of those situations is that that’s a time-consuming process, and especially with food history, it’s very difficult to ascertain what someone might have eaten a week,” said Dr. Williams.
Columbus, Bladen, New Hanover and Pender Counties are all reporting no active cases of the illness at this time.
Dr. Williams says the best rule of thumb to avoid contracting Cyclospora is to wash your hands, wash your fruits and vegetables and cook your meats to a temperature of 165 degrees.
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