Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Cyclosporiasis Cases Top 18,000 Across 45 States As CDC Looks For Additional Culprits
Cases of cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness caused by a parasite, have topped 18,000 in 45 states, according to updated data Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since May 1, at least 6,707 cases have been laboratory-confirmed, including 423 hospitalizations, the CDC noted. (Benadjaoud, 7/29)
It’s been a choppy year for restaurants that lean into lettuce. Lettuce prices rose sharply in the first half of 2026 due to hot weather in Arizona, where about one-third of America’s lettuce is grown. Now, restaurants are dealing with the fallout from a cyclospora outbreak linked to shredded lettuce that has sickened thousands of Americans. (Durbin, 7/30)
On West Nile, screwworm, covid, and Ebola —
This year has the potential to be the worst in the U.S. in two decades for West Nile virus, a pathogen that mostly lives and breeds among birds and mosquitoes but can cause a deadly neurological disease in humans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 113 cases of West Nile virus in humans as of last Friday — the highest midyear count in more than two decades, noted Dr. Matt Willis, a former Marin County health officer who now writes a Substack on public health statewide called Your Local Epidemiologist. (Allday, 7/29)
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Wednesday her department will invest $25 million towards opening a new sterile fly dispersal facility in Arizona to combat New World Screwworm (NWS). During a visit to the Grand Canyon State, Rollins joined Arizona GOP Reps. Andy Biggs, Juan Ciscomani and Eli Crane to tout the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) containment work ahead of the reopening of the southern cattle port in Douglas, Arizona. (Rego, 7/29)
Long COVID affected roughly 3% to 5% of healthcare workers at three Spanish hospitals from 2020 to 2023, with prevalence increasing with age and in some occupational groups, according to a new study published in BMC Public Health. For the study, a team led by researchers at the Center for Research in Occupational Health at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona and the Center for Biomedical Research Network of Epidemiology and Public Health in Madrid analyzed occupational health registry data from 8,441 healthcare workers diagnosed as having COVID-19 at three public hospitals from 2020 through 2023. (Bergeson, 7/29)
The fastest growing Ebola outbreak ever recorded is leaving thousands more people hungry in eastern Congo, a region engulfed in conflicts and a fight over precious minerals, the head of the U.N. food agency warned on Wednesday. The World Food Program’s acting executive director, Carl Skau, told The Associated Press during a visit to the hard-hit Ituri province that the outbreak is a “crisis on top of a crisis” that has compounded a catastrophic situation with over 5 million Congolese already experiencing emergency-level food insecurity. (Same Bagalwa, Ngorora and Lederer, 7/29)
The latest recall —
About 12,000 pounds of smoked bacon imported from Canada were recalled because of lack of proper reinspection before entering the country, the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said. The bacon from Maple Leaf Foods was shipped to grocery distributors and retailers in Idaho, Oregon and Washington state. FSIS inspects imported products for packaging, documentation, condition and contamination. (Canino-Quiñones, 7/29)
