URI Staff

URI Staff

What Cyclospora does inside the gut and how it gets there

two up collage top photo of a woman holding her stomach, bottom photo of the parasite under a microscope.

(NPR) This summer, tiny Cyclospora parasites have wreaked havoc on the digestive systems of thousands of people in the U.S.

It's the biggest outbreak of this parasite the U.S. has ever seen. In a July 28 update, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 45 states reporting cases of cyclosporiasis — the disease caused by the parasite.