A Michigan woman has filed a lawsuit against Taylor Farms, Border Foods and other produce companies, alleging she became seriously ill after eating contaminated lettuce during a multistate Cyclospora outbreak.
The complaint, filed on July 28 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, named Taco Bell’s franchisee Border Foods, Taylor Fresh Foods, Taylor Farms and five unknown corporations.
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The woman from Muskegon claims she ate food, including tacos with lettuce and tomatoes, prepared and sold by a restaurant on Colby Road in Whitehall on July 6.
On July 9, the woman experienced symptoms of a Cyclospora infection, including the sudden onset of severe, frequent, watery diarrhea. Her symptoms worsened until she sought medical care on July 11 at an urgent care facility in Muskegon.
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Her symptoms resolved on July 16, but could not get proper medication since it was on backorder and unavailable at pharmacies.
On July 18, the stool sample test she provided when she sought medical care came back positive for Cyclospora cayetanensis, confirming her cyclosporiasis infection.
The woman began to have worsened symptoms on July 19, including abdominal pain, joint pain, chills, continued severe diarrhea, a urinary tract infection, and other complications. She was admitted to the hospital and was transferred to another hospital in Grand Rapids for further treatement.
Because she was immunocompromised and could not take Bactrim, the standard sulfa-based treatment for cyclosporiasis, she was admitted to the ICU for a medication-desensitization procedure. She was eventually given nitazoxanide only after her husband traveled about seven hours round-trip to get the medication.
The lawsuit stated the woman already has a number of serious pre-existing conditions, including diabetes, coronary artery disease, sarcoidosis, arthritis, autoimmune disease, and severe anemia— and is a uterine cancer survivor and is immunocompromised. As a result, her Cyclospora infection has been more severe and prolonged, her treating physicians have advised that her illness may persist for months, and she may require ongoing immunoglobulin infusion therapy.
She was discharged from the hospital on July 21, but her condition did not improve, and she may be required to be admitted to the ICU for medication-desensitization procedures in order for her to tolerate Bactrim.
The lawsuit requests compensation for all general, special, incidental and consequential damages the woman endured as she recovered from cyclosporiasis.