MONROE, Mich.—A billboard promoting a healthier diet displayed on the outskirts of Monroe County in Michigan reads, “Eat Food That Loves You Back.”
That’s not been the case in Monroe County, Michigan, which borders Ohio and has been one of the counties harder hit by an outbreak of cyclosporiasis linked to contaminated lettuce.
Michigan has accounted for as many as half the 4,173 cases in the U.S. reported as of July 20, according to the CDC data.
Lynn Sutfin, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, told The Epoch Times the high numbers of confirmed cases are likely due to a number of factors.
More Michigan residents are aware of the outbreak due to information the state has disseminated, which has translated into more testing. The state may have received a larger shipment of contaminated produce than the other states, Sutfin said.
The state has not speculated on why it has been hit the hardest by what is being nicknamed the “lettuce diarrhea” outbreak.
Monroe County has been among the harder hit counties in Michigan, with 347 cases, according to state data. Wayne County, which includes Detroit, has had 1,036 cases.
Laura Kyles is an office manager at the Monroe Urgent Care in the city of Monroe. She said when the epidemic first hit, there were as many as 30 people a day coming in with symptoms, and about 90 percent of the tests came back positive for cyclosporiasis.
She said the caseload has decreased to about 15 a day more recently. Health officials say it can take 2 to 14 days for symptoms to appear once exposed.
The victims report having severe diarrhea and severe cramps.
“Just feeling dead to the world, honestly,” Kyles said, describing how the patients felt.
Health officials have not linked individual illnesses to specific restaurant locations, and many restaurants received lettuce from the recalled distributor.
A manager of a Taco Bell store in the city of Monroe was upset his fast food chain has been continually linked to the outbreak in media stories. He didn’t want his name published because he was not authorized to speak on the topic.
The manager said the outbreak was killing his business. He said work shifts that had up to eight people before the outbreak are now down to three due to lack of business.
He also said they switched food distributors and dropped Taylor Farms, which was linked to the outbreak.
Other fast food chains in the area use the same distributor but aren’t feeling the heat like Taco Bell, the manager said.
“They are only pinning the blame on us [at Taco Bell],” he told The Epoch Times. “It will be a while before anyone trusts coming here.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s investigation into the outbreak points to shredded iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms locations in central Mexico.
Taylor Farms recalled iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico on July 17. The recall included lettuce sold at retail stores and served in restaurants.
The shredded iceberg lettuce was distributed June 29 through July 16 to 27 states, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Taco Bell released a statement on July 17 saying it had “completed removal of affected Taylor Farms lettuce from our restaurants.”
“We took this action to ensure our guests can enjoy their Taco Bell favorites safely,” the statement said.
Jason Adams, of Parma, Michigan, said he contracted cyclosporiasis and believes it may have been from eating at Taco Bell. He said his 16-year-old son, Gunner, also contracted the virus.
“We eat a lot of fast food, we were both at Taco Bell at different times,” Jason said. “It was the only thing I had that had lettuce on it.”
Jason said he had a pain in his sternum, he felt extremely cold, and for six days was “deathly ill.” He stayed in bed an entire day with extreme fatigue.
“It just seems like a really bad stomach bug,” he said.
—Tom Gantert; Stacy Robinson
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