Florida's cyclosporiasis count rose by 97 cases in a single week, and Lee County holds the second-highest total in the state at 25

Money & World

The Editorial Team · July 31, 2026

A pair of hands held under a wall mounted chrome tap in a white tiled bathroom, one hand cupping a white bar of soap while running water falls across both. No faces, signs or text are in view. A generic illustration, not a photograph taken in Lee or Collier County.

Photo: Kaboompics.com / Pexels

What it changes

For a Lee County household this is a produce and hand washing story with the county named near the top of the state list, and the number moved enough this week to be worth a second look. Florida's Department of Health now counts 264 confirmed and probable cyclosporiasis cases among state residents since January 1, against 167 in the report published a week earlier. That is 97 additional cases in one weekly update, an increase of about 58 percent, and it is the largest single week jump the state has posted during this outbreak. Lee County accounts for 25 of the 264, behind only Miami-Dade at 43 and ahead of Broward and Orange at 22 each. Collier County has six. One correction is worth making plainly, because it affects how a reader ranks their own county. WINK News described Lee as holding the third-highest total in the state, but the figures printed in the same article place Lee at 25 and the next counties at 22, which puts Lee second. This site is reporting the ranking that the published numbers support rather than the one stated in the copy. Note also that this figure is not directly comparable to the one this site reported on July 25. That earlier count of 16 Lee County cases came from a report window beginning May 1, while the 264 statewide and 25 in Lee are counted from January 1. The two are different baselines, so the honest statement is that Lee stands at 25 on the year to date basis, not that Lee rose from 16 to 25. What a resident can actually do about it is narrow but real. Cyclospora does not spread person to person, so this is not a story about avoiding other people. People catch it from fresh produce or water carrying the parasite, and the illness brings watery diarrhea, cramps, nausea and fatigue that can run for weeks and return in waves if it goes untreated. Wash hands with soap and water before handling food and after using the bathroom, because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that alcohol based hand sanitizer does not kill this parasite, which is the one piece of standard hygiene advice that fails here. Wash produce thoroughly, while understanding that washing alone is not a guarantee. Anyone with diarrhea that has lasted more than a few days should ask a doctor specifically about a Cyclospora test, because routine stool panels do not always look for it. Finally, treat the number itself as provisional. The state labels these counts preliminary, updates them every Thursday for the week ending the previous Saturday, and revises individual cases as results arrive, so Lee County's 25 is a floor for that window rather than a settled total.

Florida's weekly count of cyclosporiasis rose to 264 confirmed and probable cases among state residents on Thursday, from 167 in the previous week's report. Lee County accounts for 25 of them, the second-highest total of any county in the state.

The figures come from the Department of Health's Reportable Diseases Frequency Report, the state's running tally of diseases that laboratories and physicians are required by law to report. WINK News reported the Lee County figure on Friday afternoon. Fox 13 Tampa Bay published the full county by county breakdown a day earlier, and News4Jax reported the prior week's statewide total of 167.

Miami-Dade County leads the state with 43 cases. Lee follows at 25. Broward and Orange each have 22, Palm Beach and Pinellas each have 11, and Collier County has six. The Fox 13 table lists 39 counties with at least one case, and those 39 figures add up to exactly 264, which matches the statewide total.

That arithmetic matters for one reason. WINK described Lee County as having the third-highest number of reported infections, while the numbers in the same article put Lee at 25 and the counties below it at 22. On the published figures, Lee is second.

The jump of 97 cases in a single weekly update is the sharpest of the outbreak so far. It follows a week in which the statewide total had already climbed steeply, and the state has now recorded most of this year's cases in June and July.

The comparison to this site's earlier report needs care. On July 25 this site reported 16 confirmed cases in Lee County, second-highest in the state, drawn from a state report counting from May 1. The 264 statewide and the 25 in Lee are counted from January 1. Those are different windows, so the year to date figure is not a like for like update of the May 1 figure, and no conclusion about the rate of increase in Lee County should be drawn from placing the two side by side.

The state sets out its own limits on these numbers. Its report tool states that counts include confirmed and probable cases, that the data are refreshed each Thursday to cover the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report week running Sunday through Saturday, and that displayed numbers are preliminary and may change as laboratory, investigation or medical results are completed.

Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that contaminates food or water. It is not passed from person to person. Symptoms include frequent watery diarrhea, stomach cramps and nausea, and an untreated infection can persist for weeks and relapse.

One piece of the usual hygiene advice does not apply. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that alcohol based hand sanitizers do not kill Cyclospora, so soap and running water are the step that counts, both before handling food and after using the bathroom.

This site was not able to generate the state report table directly. The Reportable Diseases Frequency Report is an interactive form that returns results only after a disease and a date range are selected, and the county figures above therefore rest on two outlets that published the same state report independently, cross-checked against each other and against a third outlet's figure for the prior week.

Florida's cyclosporiasis count rose by 97 cases in a single week, and Lee County holds the second-highest total in the state at 25

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