{"id":62730,"date":"2026-08-08T11:10:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/62730\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:10:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:10:32","slug":"health-department-investigating-after-seeing-more-than-5x-increase-in-cyclosporiasis-cases-in-mchenry-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/62730\/","title":{"rendered":"Health department investigating after seeing more than 5x increase in cyclosporiasis cases in McHenry County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Lettuce\"\"Lettuce\" <\/a>File Photo | Photo: Jeremy Bronson (Wikimedia Commons\/Creative Commons)<\/p>\n

The health department issued a warning as they investigate a more than five times increase in cyclosporiasis cases in McHenry County recently, with no identifiable source so far.<\/p>\n

The McHenry County Department of Health said Friday it is investigating an increase in reported cases of cyclosporiasis in McHenry County.<\/p>\n

The health department has identified 61 cases of cyclosporiasis since June 25, more than five times the number of cases reported during the same timeframe in 2025.<\/p>\n

The investigation remains active and the number of reported cases may continue to change.<\/p>\n

Symptoms of cyclosporiasis typically begin about a week after exposure and commonly include watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, stomach cramps or bloating, nausea, fatigue and low-grade fever.<\/p>\n

Symptoms may last for several weeks or longer without treatment, with periods of improvement followed by recurrence.<\/p>\n

The illness can cause prolonged diarrhea and there is a risk of dehydration.<\/p>\n

Individuals experiencing decreased urination, dizziness or headache after ongoing diarrhea should seek medical treatment for dehydration.<\/p>\n

Anyone whose diarrhea persists for more than a couple of days is encouraged to contact their primary care provider or seek medical attention for evaluation, testing and appropriate treatment.<\/p>\n

Cyclosporiasis cases are associated with the consumption of contaminated fresh produce or water.<\/p>\n

Cyclosporiasis outbreaks historically have been linked to a variety of fresh produce items, including leafy greens such as lettuce, fresh herbs, snow peas, green onions and berries.<\/p>\n

The McHenry County Department of Health said there is no specific source that has been identified in the current investigation, which is ongoing.<\/p>\n

The health department said it encourages residents to follow routine food safety practices to help reduce the risk of foodborne illness.<\/p>\n

Those include rinsing all fresh fruits and vegetables under running water and gently scrubbing or wiping produce before eating, cutting or cooking.<\/p>\n

Safety practices also include scrubbing firm produce, such as melons and cucumbers, with a clean produce brush as well as washing and sanitizing cutting boards, utensils, containers and other food contact surfaces after preparing fresh produce.<\/p>\n

Anyone preparing food, handling fresh produce or using the restroom should wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith no specific food source identified, consumers can reduce, but not completely eliminate, their risk by carefully washing, preparing, and storing fresh produce,\u201d the health department said.<\/p>\n

Cooking produce to an internal temperature of 158 degrees Fahrenheit is more effective than washing alone because it inactivates cyclospora, health officials said.<\/p>\n

The McHenry County Department of Health said they will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates when available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"File Photo | Photo: Jeremy Bronson (Wikimedia Commons\/Creative Commons) The health department issued a warning as they investigate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[27838,8,32887,9,17057,32888,7,2390],"class_list":["post-62730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-cyclosporiasis","tag-headlines","tag-mchenry-county-department-of-health","tag-news","tag-outbreak","tag-sickness","tag-top-stories","tag-woodstock"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/117059585581399404","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}