Author: Tony Coveny, Ph.D

Bactrim, Cyclospora, and the pathway you don’t have “Antibiotic” is a clinical filing category, not a biochemical one. Humans sort drugs by the kind of organism we point them at — antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic — but drugs don’t act on organisms. They act on molecules. And a molecule that appears in bacteria may also appear in protozoa, in fungi, and in plants, while being entirely absent from humans. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is not really an antibacterial that happens to work on a parasite. It is an antifolate that happens to work on anything which must build its own folate. Bacteria qualify. So…

July 25, 2026 Texas is reporting a rising number of cyclosporiasis cases this summer, even as the bulk of the nation’s record-setting outbreak remains concentrated in Michigan, Ohio and neighboring states. The Texas Department of State Health Services has confirmed at least 68 cases meeting the CDC’s outbreak case definition since May 1, along with 15 hospitalizations and no deaths. Cases have continued to accumulate since that count was released, and DSHS has characterized Texas numbers as running somewhat above what would normally be expected for this point in the season. Houston-based food safety law firm Ron Simon & Associates…

July 25, 2026 New York has become one of the hardest-hit states outside the Midwest in a cyclosporiasis surge that public health officials are now calling the largest on record in the United States. State health authorities have logged roughly 632 cases since the beginning of May — a figure that already exceeds the total number of cases New York reported in all of 2024 and again in all of 2025, when annual counts ran between 500 and 700. Food safety attorney Ron Simon currently represents dozens of victims sickened by Cyclospora in New York. Those cases form part of…

Updated July 25, 2026 Northeast Ohio has become one of the focal points of what federal health officials now describe as the largest multistate cyclosporiasis outbreak the country has seen — an outbreak traced to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell restaurants and supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico. In Cleveland and its suburbs, the parasite has sent people to Cleveland Clinic emergency departments, cost them jobs and paychecks, and, in at least one case, landed a mother of eight in surgery. The national food safety law firm Ron Simon & Associates filed the first lawsuit in the country…

SOUTHFIELD, Michigan — Ella-Salone Jones ordered the same thing she always ordered. Beef tacos with shredded lettuce, from the Taco Bell she had been going to for years in Southfield. She bought that meal at least three times in late June and early July. Weeks later, she was still in a hospital isolation room, unable to keep food down, with a parasite in her intestines and an acute kidney injury layered on top of the Stage 5 kidney disease she already lives with. Jones is one of hundreds of people now represented by food safety attorney Ron Simon and his…

DETROIT, Michigan — What began as an unusual cluster of stomach illness in southeast Michigan this summer has become the largest cyclosporiasis outbreak in U.S. history — and Detroit sits squarely at its center. Federal investigators have tied the outbreak to shredded iceberg lettuce grown in central Mexico by Taylor Farms de Mexico and served at Taco Bell restaurants. Victims across the region are now coming forward, and the national food safety firm Ron Simon & Associates says it represents hundreds of them, including Detroit resident Cammal Ogletree. The Outbreak by the Numbers The scope of the outbreak has widened…

DETROIT, Michigan — July 23, 2026 — With as many as 12,000 laboratory confirmed and pending victims sickened in the nation, most of those in Michigan, sick citizens are coming forward seeking legal representation. Now a Detroit resident, Cammal Ogletree, who was recently hospitalized, has obtained legal representation with Ron Simon, the nation’s food poisoning lawyer, in her fight for justice against Taco Bell and Taylor Farms. Having been released from the hospital she remains under the care of her medical professionals. Cammal Ogletree — Detroit, Michigan Cammal Ogletree, 53, ate at her local Taco Bell in Allen Park, Michigan,…

A Primer on Salmonella, One of the Most Common Food Borne Pathogens Causing Gastroenteritis and Other Illness Salmonella is dangerous because it is not merely a cause of temporary stomach upset. It is a biologically sophisticated bacterial pathogen capable of surviving in food, passing through the human stomach, invading the intestinal tract, triggering inflammation, causing severe dehydration, spreading beyond the gut, and, in vulnerable people, producing life-threatening disease. Public-health agencies classify Salmonella as one of the major causes of foodborne illness because it is common, resilient, widely distributed in animals and food systems, and capable of causing both large outbreaks…

Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Pistachio Cream In mid‑June 2025, U.S. public health authorities issued warnings about a multistate Salmonella Oranienburg outbreak linked to Emek‑brand pistachio cream, a shelf‑stable nut butter imported from Turkey. As of June 13, four people across Minnesota and New Jersey fell ill, with one hospitalization and no deaths reported. All four patients had consumed pistachio cream, three of them at the same restaurant, prompting swift investigation and public health action by the CDC and FDA. Confirming the Source The outbreak was traced to Emek‑brand pistachio cream, specifically products with a use‑by date of October 19, 2026,…

A recall first initiated on March 12, 2025 by Fruselva USA, based in Miami, Florida, for Good & Gather Baby Pea, Zucchini, Kale, & Thyme Vegetable Puree due to elevated levels of lead remains ongoing.  Lead is a neurotoxin that can affect nearly every system in the human body and is especially dangerous for young children. Background No press release was issued for this lead contamination recall and the company has not said how the presence of elevated lead levels was found. This is classified as a Class II recall, meaning that consumption of the affected product might cause temporary…