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 currently represents dozens of Texans sickened by Cyclospora this season. Those clients are part of a larger inventory of hundreds of cyclosporiasis victims the firm represents across the Midwest region, where the outbreak has been most severe.
Where Texas Stands
Every Texas case counted so far is domestically acquired — none of the patients reported international travel in the two weeks before falling ill, which rules out the usual explanation for summer cyclosporiasis and points investigators back toward the domestic food supply.
Cases have surfaced in multiple metro areas. Dallas County health officials reported an increase in reports in early July. Tarrant County has confirmed cases, as has Denton County. Children’s Medical Center Dallas has confirmed pediatric cases this year. The response has begun reaching institutions outside health care: at least one North Texas school district, Community ISD, announced it is pulling lettuce and all raw leafy greens from school menus for the opening weeks of the school year as a precaution.
Texas is not a stranger to this parasite. State health data show more than 400 reported cases in 2024, 788 in 2023, 636 in 2022, and more than 900 in 2019 — and roughly 97% of Texas cases cluster in the May-through-August window. In some past national outbreaks, Texas has been the single hardest-hit state. That history is part of why DSHS issues an annual advisory to Texas clinicians ahead of each season.
The National Picture and Texas’s Place in It
Federal investigators have identified a defined multistate outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce. As of the latest CDC update, 1,947 people across nine states have been reported infected with Cyclospora after eating at Taco Bell locations, with illness onsets running from June 22 through July 20 and at least 98 hospitalizations. Michigan’s analysis of interviews with cases who ate at Taco Bell found that roughly 90% reported eating iceberg lettuce. On July 17, Taylor Farms recalled iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico — a recall covering both retail product and lettuce distributed to restaurants and other food service customers.
Texas is not among the nine states in that specific outbreak. But two facts should temper any assumption that Texans are in the clear.
First, the CDC has been explicit that it is investigating multiple separate clusters this season and that a substantial share of the nation’s illnesses have no identified vehicle at all. Nationally, the agency has confirmed more than 4,100 laboratory-verified domestic cases since May 1 and is tracking over 7,400 more awaiting confirmation, bringing the combined confirmed-and-probable total past 11,000.
Second, recalled product moves through distribution channels that do not respect state lines. Foodservice distribution in particular can carry an implicated ingredient well outside the states where illnesses were first detected, and detection depends heavily on whether local clinicians happen to order the right test.
Why Texas Numbers Are Almost Certainly Undercounted
Cyclospora is routinely missed. It does not show up on many standard gastrointestinal panels unless a provider specifically orders testing for it, and DSHS has long advised Texas clinicians to request Cyclospora identification explicitly when ordering ova-and-parasite testing.
The diagnostic picture is complicated further by intermittent shedding: a single negative stool specimen does not rule out infection, and state health guidance notes that three specimens are optimal. Molecular methods such as PCR can also detect the parasite.
The practical consequence for a sick Texan is significant. A patient with two weeks of watery diarrhea who was tested once, told the results were negative, and sent home may still have cyclosporiasis — and without a laboratory confirmation, that illness never enters the public health count and is far harder to connect to a contaminated product later.
Symptoms and Prevention
Cyclospora cayetanensis is a microscopic parasite spread through food or water contaminated with human feces. It clings tightly to fresh produce and resists ordinary washing. It does not spread person to person, because the parasite must mature in the environment for one to two weeks before becoming infectious.
Symptoms usually begin two to 14 days after exposure and commonly include watery, frequent and often explosive diarrhea, cramping, bloating, gas, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue, weight loss and low-grade fever. Untreated, diarrhea can persist for weeks to a month or longer, and patients may relapse. Treatment requires a specific antibiotic regimen rather than the supportive care that resolves most foodborne illness.
Health officials recommend washing all fresh produce thoroughly under clean running water, while acknowledging that washing does not eliminate all risk. Cooking is more reliable — heating food to 158°F (70°C) kills the parasite. Michigan health authorities, working from the leading hypothesis in the hardest-hit state, have advised buying whole heads of lettuce rather than pre-washed bagged greens or salad kits, discarding the outer two to three layers of leaves, and thoroughly washing the inner leaves.
Anyone with sudden and persistent diarrhea should contact a health care provider, specifically raise Cyclospora as a possibility, and report the illness to their local health department.
Legal Exposure Under Texas Law
Texas recognizes strict product liability for defective and contaminated food products. A contaminated food case does not generally require proving that a grower, processor, distributor or restaurant was careless — only that the product was unreasonably dangerous when it left that party’s hands and that it caused the illness. Implied warranty claims under the Texas Business and Commerce Code and Deceptive Trade Practices Act claims may also apply depending on the facts.
What separates a provable claim from an unprovable one is usually documentation. Victims are in a substantially stronger position when they have a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis, medical records showing the course of the illness, and a record of what they ate and where — receipts, credit card statements, loyalty account histories, delivery app orders, and photographs of packaging or product labels. Those records are what allow epidemiologists and attorneys to trace an individual illness back to a specific supplier.
Ron Simon & Associates continues to investigate cyclosporiasis illnesses in Texas and nationwide.
