When Joye Pate woke up on a Monday morning in late June with sharp stomach cramps, she blamed her recent trip to New York, figuring she must have eaten something that didn't agree with her. She went to the bathroom and noticed her stools were unusually loose. It was the start of a week the 28-year-old wouldn't forget.
"An hour after that, I found myself back in the bathroom," Pate recalled. "And essentially, it just kept happening every hour or so."
Monday brought hourly diarrhea, and Tuesday brought more of the same. By Wednesday she was frantically searching online trying to figure out what was wrong, and by Thursday, after days of surviving on little more than broth and crackers, she landed on a possible answer: cyclospora, a microscopic parasite behind an explosive and rapidly spreading outbreak of diarrhea across the country.
Nearly 7,000 cases nationwide, 4,312 in Michigan alone
Nearly 7,000 people nationwide may have been sickened by the parasitic infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though experts believe the real number is almost certainly higher since many cases go undiagnosed. In Michigan alone, the case count stood at 4,312.
Social media makes it feel like everyone has it
Scroll through Instagram or TikTok, though, and it can feel like the entire country, not just Michigan, is doubled over in the bathroom: bad for the bowels, apparently great for engagement. Even though the parasite hasn't actually spread everywhere, social media is making it feel that way, stirring anxiety across everyone's feed.
Pate never actually tested positive for cyclospora, but her symptoms, which lasted a full week, matched the description closely enough that she felt convinced. She posted about her experience because back in late June there was barely any coverage of the outbreak. Since then, her TikTok video has been flooded with commenters wondering if they have cyclosporiasis too.
Cyclospora is now everywhere on her social media feed, she says. Videos from people who say they've had the infection, alongside others who are simply terrified of catching it, are racking up thousands of views. Suddenly, everyone seems eager to talk about their stomach troubles.
"I feel like I have 99 percent of the symptoms, but I also have stomach issues all the time," influencer Meagan Rose said in a TikTok that has drawn more than 40,000 views. "And I'm extremely stressed right now, because I'm like, at what point am I going to know?"
Food creators steer followers away from raw produce
Food content creators are responding by pointing people toward cooked vegetables instead of raw ones. Cookbook author Arash Hashemi, who runs Shred Happens, posted an Instagram story asking, "Trying to avoid explosive diarrhea, so how do we feel about steak & crispy smashed potato for dinner?" Elsewhere, the New York Times Cooking Instagram account shared a story linking to a recipe that read, "Avoiding raw produce? Stir-fry your lettuce."
One woman, who asked to stay anonymous, described days of watery diarrhea after eating a salad from her local bodega. "I was so worried after I had a salad from my local bodega and my stomach was bothering me the rest of the afternoon at work, but I also have a history of IBS," she said. "There I was on the toilet scrolling through Instagram and seeing posts about the parasite."
Lettuce is the leading suspect, but no confirmed source yet
Health officials in Michigan have identified lettuce or salad greens as a potential cause of the outbreak, but no specific ingredient, grower, or supplier has yet been named. Past outbreaks of cyclosporiasis have similarly been tied to leafy greens, herbs, and raspberries.
Why diagnosing it is so hard
One of the bottlenecks in tracking the outbreak is diagnosing it in the first place. Cyclospora isn't as common as other foodborne pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella, and routine stool tests do not typically screen for it. Plus, many people who get diarrhea never seek medical care unless their case is particularly severe.
Lauren Clark, a 44-year-old mom who lives in New Jersey, was hospitalized in early May with severe diarrhea before she had heard about cyclosporiasis. She woke up with nausea and threw up a few times before having what she calls "the other explosive problem" for several hours. The CDC says the outbreak began in early May.
"I was literally lying on the floor," she said.
She remembers eating a bibb salad at a restaurant two days before her symptoms began. No one else in her family ate the same thing or got sick, so she suspects her illness was linked to the salad. Symptoms of a cyclospora infection typically appear about a week after exposure, but they can occur as soon as two days or as late as two weeks after the parasite is ingested.
Her stool turned "sheer liquid and bloody," so she went to urgent care. Clinicians there took her blood pressure, found it had dropped, and advised her to go to the hospital. She went straight to the emergency room, where she got IV fluids and was tested for E. coli, salmonella, giardia, and other common foodborne and waterborne illnesses, but she wasn't tested for cyclospora.
Treatment and prevention
For anyone stuck making repeated trips to the bathroom, calling a doctor and asking for a stool test specifically is the best bet. Cyclospora is highly treatable with the antibiotics Bactrim and Septra, which are typically taken twice a day for seven to 10 days. Washing fruits and vegetables thoroughly and vigorously can lower the risk of infection, though experts say vinegar and commercial disinfectants aren't effective at killing the parasite. Even with best practices, it's still possible to contract cyclosporiasis.
Experts push back on the panic
Colin Carlson, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health, posted on Bluesky on Wednesday, "I have returned from my travels in the lands of diarrhea, and also the ER, to share this wisdom: Do not get the diarrhea parasite." He's still waiting on test results to know for sure. He added on the platform, "I have a lot of colorful things I could say but my main thing is that RFK Jr. I am challenging you to a cage match on the lawn of HHS." About a quarter of the CDC's staff has been cut since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took office in February 2025.
Joel Barratt, a molecular parasitologist and assistant professor at Emory School of Medicine, is urging people to contact their doctor and get tested instead of assuming they have cyclospora. "Just because cyclospora is making the news now, doesn't mean that that's what you have. You want to get tested and make sure you get the correct treatment. Because if you get the wrong treatment," he said, "you're not going to get better."
