Woman hospitalized by diarrhea parasite after eating Taco Bell describes severe symptoms she suffered
A woman hospitalized with cyclosporiasis following a Taco Bell meal has been unable to return home to her three children due to complications following horrific symptoms.
Ella-Salone Jones says she tucked into the fast food at a Southfield Taco Bell in both late June and early July, before developing severe gastrointestinal symptoms.
After being admitted to hospital, doctors diagnosed her with cyclospora. It came off the back of '30-40' toilet trips a day.
Jones told CBS News Detroit that she's still in hospital due to complications related to her kidney disease.
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"They won't let me go home because I can't hold anything," she continued. "I have Stage 5 kidney disease, and if my kidneys dry up, I can pass."
Thousands of people have fallen ill with the diarrhea parasite. The CDC has recorded more than 4,100 laboratory-confirmed cyclosporiasis cases since May 1, surpassing previous records.
Taco Bell has recalled lettuce from some of its restaurants, while Taylor Farms de Mexico - who distribute lettuce to Taco Bell - has also issued a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce. The FDA later admitted a Taylor Farms lettuce sample they previously said contained Cyclospora was in fact a false positive.
The source of the outbreak remains unclear and is still being investigated.
Taco Bell items containing shredded lettuce should be avoided in the states of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia, according to the FDA.
Jones is now looking into taking legal action against Taco Bell and Taylor Farms, with attorney Ron Simon representing her.
Ten to 20 percent of Simon's clients have been hospitalized due to the cyclosporiasis outbreak.
He told CBS News Detroit: "By the time the investigators find out about the outbreak, the implicated product is already gone, and I think that's what we saw in this case."
Jones is unable to take Bactrim, the standard treatment for cyclospora, due to an underlying health condition, which is hurting her recovery, according to Simon.
She added: "They [doctors] had to find something that can help me, and they don't even really know if it's helping me."
Jones has even had to cancel a trip to Disney World with her three children as a result of her current health situation.
"I had a vacation for my children, and I can't take them now," she added. "We've been waiting for a year and a half."
She's also accumulated $100,000 in medical bills.
UNILAD has reached out to Taco Bell and Taylor Farms for comment.
While a Cyclospora infection is not life-threatening, health experts urge those with symptoms to get medical advice.
The CDC advises: "A Cyclospora infection sometimes goes away on its own. But if you don’t treat it, your symptoms may last for a month or longer. This puts you at risk of severe dehydration and other complications."
What are the symptoms of cyclosporiasis?
Symptoms usually appear somewhere between two days and three weeks after infection, which is part of what makes tracing the source of outbreaks so difficult.
The most commonly reported symptoms include:
- loud, watery or explosive diarrhoea
- loss of appetite
- bloating, burping and gas
- extreme tiredness
- a low-grade fever
- stomach cramps
- nausea, and vomiting.
If left untreated, symptoms can last anywhere from a few days to over a month, and may repeatedly disappear and then relapse.
Because the parasite is difficult to detect, standard stool tests can miss it entirely, so health departments are urging anyone with prolonged symptoms to specifically request a Cyclospora PCR test from their doctor, which can then be treated with a targeted course of sulfa-based antibiotics.
Callum Jones