ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 24, 1996 TAG: 9606240066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HOUSTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
California strawberries are almost certainly the source of a rare parasite that has sickened scores of people in the city, state health officials said.
Since late April, illnesses have been attributed to the microbe, called cyclospora, in Texas and at least eight other states. Nearly 70 people also have been stricken in Toronto.
While health officials in other states are not yet citing a specific cause, epidemiologists at the Texas Department of Health have focused on strawberries for 55 confirmed and 96 suspected cases of cyclospora-related illness in Houston.
``We believe the statistical probability is very, very high that the cluster of outbreaks in Houston was strawberry-related,'' department spokeswoman Lynn Denton said Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration said they were studying the apparent outbreak but were not yet ready to draw conclusions.
``Until we get out and examine the situation very carefully ... get definitive laboratory science that tells us what we're dealing with, we don't want to speculate,'' said Bob Howard, a CDC spokesman.
No deaths have been reported from the parasite, which can be treated with antibiotics. Cyclospora can cause extreme watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting and fatigue lasting several weeks.
Because cyclospora is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States - the first U.S. outbreak was not until 1990 - little is known about it.
In studying the Houston cases, epidemiologists found that everyone who became ill had eaten strawberries, Denton said. California strawberries are being blamed because that state produces most of the strawberries consumed at this time of year, she said.
California Strawberry Commission spokeswoman Teresa Thorne said the group would today begin convening a panel of scientific experts to study the problem.
Houston health officials began warning residents against eating strawberries after 18 of 20 natural gas company executives at a May meeting developed illnesses associated with cyclospora.
Health officials have identified 43 cases of the illness in New York, at least 33 in New Jersey, eight in Pennsylvania, 28 in Ohio, 71 in Florida, eight in Illinois, 28 in Massachusetts and two in South Carolina. Elsewhere in Texas, there have been seven cases in Austin and one in Port Lavaca.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Map by AP.by CNB