Florida Cyclospora Cases Rise as Taco Bell Responds

Ryan, Dana, Nathalie Rodriguez, and National Correspondent Rory O’Neill discuss the growing cyclospora outbreak, including 60 confirmed cases in Florida. They also cover Taco Bell’s response as illnesses linked to the parasite continue to increase across the U.S.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Ryan Gorman Show podcast presented by Verah and Farah
accident attorneys from Tampa.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
All right, let's get to one more quick story now.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Oh yeah, Florida health officials definitely a warning now about
the severe summer spike in cyclospariasis cases, with sixty total
infections at least confirmed across the state. And this parasitic
outbreak is hitting a lot of major areas. Five cases
in Miami, Dade five and Broward. Central and West Florida
are also tracking this bug, with four cases in Orlando

(00:29):
and at least two in the Tampa Bay area. The
symptoms of cyclosparias is from the cyclospora parasite typically appear
two to fourteen days after exposure, and the symptoms to
watch out for and this is not like a breakup symptom.
This is watery, explosive diarrhea, severe fatigue, loss of appetite,

(00:51):
rapid weight loss because you've got the poops and the
lack of eating. I got weight loss part well, yeah,
but not you know you're not going to go around
licking produce supermarket. He eats some kale, Ryan eat some can.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
You're better off with a gil It's a GLB one
when you got cyclospora.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, bloating gas, nausea, flu like symptoms, even low grade fever,
and you can't really prevent it, but you can reduce
the risk of getting this if you do eat lettuce
and cilantro and tomatoes and berries is to scrub them
with a brush. So what happens is the parasite like
they stick to the leafy vegetables and the fruits, so

(01:31):
you can't just wash them with water and soap. You
really do got to scrub them down. And even then
you're reducing the likeliness of contamination, but you can't necessarily
be one hundred percent sure that you're eliminating it.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
I thought George, listening to us in the Tampa Bay area,
had a great question about all of this.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
Let's get a medical professional to come on and explain
the difference between regular diarrhea and explosive diarrhea, because to me,
diarrhea way it's still pretty explosive.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, good point. We might have to get somebody on
to break that down. Are you glad you're going to
be off the next two days?

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Names I really am.

Speaker 5 (02:10):
Yeah, hopefully I don't come down with cyclost all them
on vacation. Yeah, I'm gonna be skipping the salads at
all my dinners. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Natalie Rodriguez or Today's Top Stories. Natalie, thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
You got it.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Let's get to explosive diarrhea and what's going on with
Taco Bell finding themselves at the center of this.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
Excuse me, I'll be right back. No, so this has
really been centered around Michigan and the Midwest, but all
this is something happening coast to coast. More than thirty
states now have had these reports of this explosive diarrhea
outbreak that may be linked to salads, prepackaged salads, lettuces
and berries as well, or another concern. And then we're

(02:52):
pretty confident that we only know a small fraction because
a lot of people don't seek medical treatment. They're either
embarrassed by it or it wasn't that big a deal.
How many moderate cases are out there is something else
that's an unknown, But.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Are there cases of explosive diary Well, maybe it's a
I don't know, maybe it's a firecracker versus I don't know.
And for these these issues that might involve Taco Bell,
are they sure it's this parasite or is it just
that it is just the top hotel.

Speaker 5 (03:20):
Yeah, Taco Bells always given people diarrhea.

Speaker 4 (03:26):
Order before eleven pm, is mine after eleven PM.

Speaker 5 (03:30):
My son has been getting a lot of Taco Bell
lately because should say something. I hope he doesn't end
up with explosive diarrhea. But he got Taco Bell again
last night. As I'm looking at this story, he comes
home with his case ideas and I Taco Bell because
of this. I had Taco Bell for the first time

(03:51):
in years, like a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
When I took him.

Speaker 5 (03:53):
I got something for myself too, and I'm like, oh, geez,
I hope I don't have this thing.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well, and they're pulling some ingredients off some of those
menu items in order to make sure that there's no
contamination there.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, Rory. Let's say you're at a restaurant, you're having
dinner and your side salad comes you eating it?

Speaker 4 (04:11):
Ah um, yeah I will. I'm a cheap skate. I
paid for it.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
My thought is the blue cheese will kill it.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
The blue cheese will kill it. There you go.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Rory O'Neill, our national correspondent with US Rory, thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Thanks Ryan week The Ryan Gorman Show podcast up pre
set on iHeartRadio, presented by Vera and Arah Accident Attorneys, Tampa,