Detroit Woman Details Cyclosporiasis Illness Linked to Taco Bell Lettuce Outbreak

A Detroit woman who fell ill with cyclosporiasis after eating at Taco Bell has detailed the stomach-turning experience, which she said included “30 to 40” bathroom trips a day.

Ella-Salone Jones said she started to develop severe gastrointestinal symptoms that sent her to the hospital after eating at a Taco Bell in Southfield in June and July.

This summer’s cyclosporiasis outbreak — which has seen more than 4,000 cases, including over 300 hospitalizations — has been linked to shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.

Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal illness caused by a parasite from food or water contaminated with feces. While there are several discomforting symptoms of cyclosporiasis, the one making headlines is explosive diarrhea.

"Thirty to 40 times a day. It stopped, and it started again, and it is miserable," Jones told CBS News Detroit of her bathroom usage.

Jones is now pursuing legal action against Taco Bell and Taylor Farms and is being represented by Ron Simon, whose law firm is handling hundreds of claims from people who say they became sick after eating at the Mexican fast-food chain.

The Independent has reached out to Taco Bell and Taylor Farms for comment.

Jones said that she could not receive the standard treatment for cyclosporiasis, a drug called Bactrim, because of an underlying medical condition.

Her doctors had to “use less efficient medicines to try to get her cyclospora under control, and so far it has not been successful,” Simon told The Independent.

Jones said she remains in the hospital due to complications related to her Stage 5 kidney disease.

"They won't let me go home because I can't hold anything," she told CBS News Detroit, warning that “if my kidneys dry up, I can pass.”

Federal health officials reported Saturday that a sample of lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms, which had provided Taco Bell with produce, tested positive for cyclosporiasis. But officials later walked back their report, calling it a “false positive.”

Earlier last week, Taco Bell announced it was removing “potentially impacted lettuce” immediately “out of an abundance of caution.”

Despite the false positive report, Simon is confident that Taco Bell and Taylor Farms are linked to the outbreak that caused his clients to become sick.

He said that federal health officials are testing lettuce samples provided by Taylor Farms, “but this isn't the lettuce that made everybody sick. That lettuce is long gone. It's been consumed.”

“So they're testing a bunch of lettuce that has nothing to do with the outbreak,” he added.

Simon said that about 10 to 20 percent of his clients have been hospitalized due to the cyclosporiasis outbreak.

The Food and Drug Administration has warned against eating lettuce from Taco Bell or any other restaurant that has been recalled by Taylor Farms. The produce supplier announced Friday that it was removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico.