State health officials in Michigan have identified lettuce and salad greens as a 'potential source' of a cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened thousands, though they caution it's too early to rule out other foods. The parasite causes watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, and weight loss - basically a terrible time for all involved.

Michigan's health department says no specific grower or supplier has been pinpointed yet. Meanwhile, the Trump administration's earlier funding cuts have made investigating the outbreak harder, according to experts. Barbara Kowalcyk of George Washington University compared the sleuthing to assembling a puzzle with missing pieces: 'We’ve taken pieces out of the whole puzzle.'

The CDC has reported 843 confirmed and 1,500 suspected cases across 31 states, with 86 hospitalizations and no deaths. Michigan alone has 2,640 cases, while Ohio reports 177. The health department recommends washing leafy greens thoroughly or cooking them, and suggests buying whole heads of lettuce over bagged greens.

Cyclospora has a two-week incubation period, and the CDC notes a six-week lag between illness onset and case reporting. Funding cuts, including $11.4 billion in grants to state and local health departments in March 2025, have exacerbated delays. Michigan's public health labs lost $5.5 million. Additionally, the FoodNet program, which tracked cyclospora, was narrowed to only monitor E. coli and salmonella.

HHS defended the changes, saying other surveillance systems fill the gap. A spokesperson insisted cyclospora tracking never stopped and that the FDA is investigating. But as Gail Hansen put it: 'Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away.'