KEMETIC MINDS
Health & Food Safety | July 31, 2026
The multistate Cyclospora outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico has grown to 1,947 confirmed cases across 9 states, with at least 98 people hospitalized and no deaths reported. Four states were added to the cluster in the last update alone. Here’s the current case count state-by-state, what’s driving the growth, and a direct link to our live tracker so you can check the numbers for your state yourself.
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Track the outbreak state-by-state
Our live tracker breaks down confirmed case counts by state and updates as new data comes in.
View the Cyclospora Outbreak Map →The Case Count, As of This Week
The CDC’s latest investigation update, published July 26, 2026, puts the multistate Cyclospora cluster linked to iceberg lettuce at 1,947 confirmed cases across 9 states[1]. That’s a jump of four states since the agency’s prior update on July 18 — Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania were all added in the latest revision, joining the original cluster states of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia[2].
At least 98 people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported so far[1]. The CDC’s state-by-state breakdown shows the case load is not evenly spread — Michigan and Ohio continue to carry the largest share of confirmed illnesses, consistent with where the contaminated lettuce distribution was heaviest[3].
Two numbers, not one — don’t mix them up:
- 1,947 cases / 9 states — the confirmed multistate cluster directly traced to Taylor Farms de Mexico iceberg lettuce (CDC’s official outbreak investigation).
- 1,645+ cases / 34 states — a broader, separate tally of domestically acquired cyclosporiasis cases nationwide since May 1, 2026, which includes cases beyond the confirmed lettuce cluster and hasn’t all been traced to a single source[4].
What’s Behind the Growth
The CDC’s newsroom said the jump to four additional states reflects ongoing case-finding as more state health departments complete their own investigations and report confirmed illnesses back to the federal outbreak database — not necessarily new exposure, since the recalled lettuce was pulled from the market on July 17[5]. In other words, some of the growth in this update is the system catching up to illnesses that already happened, not evidence the outbreak is actively spreading through new contaminated product.
The CDC also issued a Health Alert Network (HAN) notice flagging the outbreak to clinicians nationwide, asking providers to consider cyclosporiasis in patients with prolonged watery diarrhea and to order the specific stool test needed to detect it, since routine gastrointestinal panels often miss the parasite[6].
The Source: Taylor Farms de Mexico Iceberg Lettuce
Epidemiologic and traceback data point to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms de Mexico and served at Taco Bell locations in the affected states. Taylor Farms voluntarily recalled all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico on July 17, 2026[1]. If you have leftover shredded iceberg lettuce from a Taco Bell purchase in the affected states from that window, the CDC’s guidance remains the same as with any recalled produce: don’t eat it, and don’t assume a restaurant has already pulled every last batch from the supply chain.
Symptoms to watch for:
Cyclosporiasis causes watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, cramping, bloating, and fatigue that can last for weeks if untreated. Symptoms typically start about a week after exposure. If you or someone in your household develops watery diarrhea lasting more than a few days, contact a healthcare provider and mention recent travel or restaurant produce — cyclosporiasis needs a specific stool test and is often missed without one.
Check It Yourself
- Our own live outbreak tracker shows current confirmed case counts by state, sourced directly from CDC outbreak-map exports and state health department reporting.
- The CDC’s own investigation page has the most current federal case count: cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/outbreaks/07-26/investigation.html
- The CDC’s locations page breaks illnesses down by state: cdc.gov/cyclosporiasis/outbreaks/07-26/locations.html
- Your own state health department often has more granular, locally relevant case data than the national feed.
Kemetic Minds Analysis
The headline number in this update isn’t really 1,947 — it’s that four states got added to the map in one revision, three weeks after the contaminated lettuce was already recalled. That gap between “product pulled” and “case count still climbing” is what earlier tracing systems were built to close faster, and it’s worth watching whether the next CDC update shows the growth flattening now that the recall has had time to work through the supply chain. We’ll keep updating our tracker as the CDC releases new numbers, so you don’t have to wait on us to check where things stand.
References
- CDC. (2026, July 26). Investigation Update: Cyclospora Outbreak, July 2026. cdc.gov ↩a ↩b ↩c
- CDC. (2026, July). Cyclospora Outbreak Linked to Iceberg Lettuce in 9 States. cdc.gov ↩
- CDC. (2026, July). Where People Got Sick: Cyclospora Outbreak, July 2026. cdc.gov ↩
- Infection Control Today. (2026, July). Cyclosporiasis Outbreak 2026: 1,645 Confirmed Cases in 34 States, With a Growing Cluster in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky. infectioncontroltoday.com ↩
- CDC Newsroom. (2026, July). Cyclospora outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce expanded to four new states. cdc.gov ↩
- CDC. (2026). Domestically Acquired Cyclosporiasis Cases in Multiple U.S. States, 2026. Health Alert Network. cdc.gov ↩
Methodology: Case counts for the 9-state multistate cluster are sourced directly to the CDC’s July 26, 2026 investigation update and locations page. The broader 1,645-case, 34-state domestic total is sourced to Infection Control Today’s independent tally of CDC-reported data and is a distinct, larger figure that includes cases outside the confirmed lettuce cluster — this piece does not merge the two numbers. No case counts were estimated or sourced from Wikipedia.
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