A fast-food diner who ended up in the emergency room with explosive diarrhea said he can only pin it down to a new menu item he ordered at Taco Bell — as officials have been forced to start over searching for the exact source of the alarming outbreak.
Alonso Zaragoza, 46, from Chicago, was left on an IV drip and spent days in the emergency room after suffering “no sleep, chills, fever, diarrhea [and] vomiting” from suspected cyclosporiasis, he told NBC Chicago
“I looked through everything, there was nothing that I ate that contained lettuce except for the chalupa from the luxe box at Taco Bell,” Zaragoza said.
“I looked at the app, I Googled the ingredients — it said iceberg lettuce,” he said of the typically healthy green at the root of the outbreak.
Zaragoza started showing symptoms around July 11, including “explosive diarrhea” that left him needing to go to the bathroom “every hour and a half,” he said.
“I don’t think I slept more than an hour and a half continuously in the last week,” he added.
On Wednesday, he noticed blood in his stool and, at his family’s urging, went to the ER at Northwestern Hospital to have it checked out.
“They took blood samples, stool samples, and gave me an IV drip,” Zaragoza said.
Doctors told him they believe he came down with an intestinal disease, one of nearly 7,000 people suspected to have gotten sick across 34 states since May.
Zaragoza confirmed he had suffered “4 days no sleep, chills, fever, diarrhea, vomiting, 5 pounds lost, and a midnight trip to the Emergency Room,” in a Facebook post on Thursday.
It comes as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) appeared to row back its previous theory on the cause of the parasitic disease.
Here’s the latest on the ‘explosive’ cyclosporiasis outbreak:
- ‘Explosive diarrhea’ patient ate new Taco Bell item before he got sick — as FDA renews search for cause
- FDA walks back claim that Taco Bell lettuce supplier Taylor Farms was source of ‘explosive diarrhea’ parasite
- Taco Bell customer reveals excruciating symptoms of ‘explosive diarrhea’ infection — and what he ate before catching it
- Taylor Farms releases full recall list after ‘explosive diarrhea’ cyclosporiasis outbreak
A sample of lettuce from Taco Bell supplier Taylor Farms that initially tested positive for cyclospora was later determined to be a false positive, the FDA said on Sunday.
Lab experts re-reviewed the test results and now say there are currently no confirmed positive product samples for cyclospora.
On Friday, Taylor Farms issued a voluntary recall of all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico.
Taco Bell also announced it had removed affected lettuce from its restaurants last week.
Both Taylor Farms and Taco Bell did not immediately respond to requests for updates Monday.
Zaragoza is now urging others to be careful about eating greens.
“Stay hydrated, be careful at where you’re eating, making sure you wash, clean, and cook any greens that you’re eating,” he said.
