Nearly three-quarters of Texas’ confirmed cyclosporiasis cases this year have come from just two regions of the state, according to data from state health authorities
While Texas’ case count has primarily been shared in one statewide number, the Texas Department of State Health Services provided a more specific breakdown in response to a records request from The Dallas Morning News.State health authorities declined to share the numbers on a county-by-county basis, citing confidentiality restrictions, but did provide numbers for each of the state’s eight public health regions
That data shows the majority of cases this year — from the beginning of May through July 20 — have stemmed from two regions: Region 11 and Region 6/5S.
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Region 11 includes Laredo, Corpus Christi and the southernmost part of Texas. Of the 106 lab-confirmed cases statewide, 48 were reported from South Texas’ Region 11. That region alone accounts for 45% of the state’s cases
Region 6/5S includes Harris County and the city of Houston, and an additional 29 cases stem from that region. The two regions together account for about 73% of the state’s cases
In response to questions about why these two regions are reporting more cases and whether there are specificperson Douglas Loveday said in an email that “a
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In Cameron County — which is the southernmost county in Texas and part of Region 11 — there also has not been aas so far confirmed three cases that were acquired domestically, Cameron County Public Health’s chief of staff Gabriela Saucedo said in an email
The diarrhea-inducing parasite has not hit Texas as hard as it has other states. While states such as Michigan have reported thousands of cases, Texas has so far seen cyclosporiasis case counts in the same ballpark as they have been over the last few years
Region 2/3 – which includes Dallas and Fort Worth and extends west past Abilene — has just six cases, according to the state numbers
Related:‘I miss salads’: North Texans rethink fresh produce amid cyclosporiasis outbreak
Notably, the state’s count may not include all cyclosporiasis cases that have been confirmed
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In Dallas County, for instance, health director Dr. Philip Huang said last week that the county alone had 18 confirmed cases. That’s three times the number in the state’s breakdown, for a much smaller geographic area
Across Harris County Public Health’s jurisdiction, which does not include the city of Houston, there have been 47 cyclosporiasis cases as of this week, although that number includes both confirmed and probable cases, according to an email from the department’s media team. That number is also higher than the 29 cases that the state reported for Region 6/5s, which includes Harris County. In the email, the media team wrote that the county public health department “uses a different database from the state, therefore there might be a reporting delay.”
Saucedo, in Cameron County, said reporting lags in general may be due to delays in getting into contact with patients or obtaining patient records
Related:How to protect your children from cyclosporiasis
