What Queer People Should Know About the 'Diarrhea Parasite' Ruining Our Summer Salads

This story originally appeared on The Advocate. Big gay salads are the spice of life when it comes to summer living, but queer people can’t have anything under this administration — not even fresh produce and a sense of unadulterated whimsy at the farmers market. It’s no secret that the Trump administration’s defunding of institutions that previously kept us healthy, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), has had widespread consequences, now including a parasite that loves to live on fresh produce and causes watery diarrhea. If you’re looking at that bag of salad mix sitting in your fridge a little more suspiciously, you should be. The latest casualty in the rising tide of illnesses following the Trump administration’s cuts to critical aspects of U.S. public health infrastructure is an outbreak of cyclospora, a parasite that causes a condition called cyclosporiasis that includes watery diarrhea and stomach cramping in those infected. Health authorities have yet to trace the source of the outbreak, which was first detected in May and has since spread to 34 states. According to the CDC, there have been 1,645 confirmed cases; however, local health authorities have reported higher numbers of confirmed cases, with 5,000 cases and counting reported in Michigan alone and 517 cases across New York state. The outbreak has been linked to fresh produce contaminated by cyclospora, though an exact source has not been confirmed. On July 16, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urged people not to eat shredded lettuce at Taco Bell restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. NBC reported that two sources with knowledge of the federal investigation told the news outlet the Taco Bell lettuce supplier being investigated is Taylor Farms. Despite this new lead, the source or sources of the outbreak have yet to be confirmed.In the wake of the outbreak, people are trying to keep them