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A newlywed Wisconsin couple quickly put their “in sickness and in health” vows to the test when the bride’s severe stomach illness landed her in the emergency room during their honeymoon.
Gretchen Pleuss said she contracted Cyclospora, the parasite linked to a 41-state outbreak that has sickened thousands, during her honeymoon camping trip to Yellowstone National Park, turning what should have been a celebration into a medical ordeal.
“It was just like incessant diarrhea, so just like watery and constant,” Pleuss told WISN about her illness. “I felt fine until we got out here, and then a couple days into camping into the Badlands, I started having symptoms.”
The agony eventually grew too intense to ignore, forcing Pleuss to make a pitstop at the emergency room. Doctors determined she had the Cyclospora parasite in her system, which Pleuss believes she got from shredded lettuce in a sandwich.
“It feels like your intestines are really tight, like something is seizing them,” Pleuss, who is being treated with antibiotics, said about her pain.
Pleuss provided The Independent with a pleasant update Thursday, revealing that she’s “feeling much better” after finishing her antibiotics.
“It took about four days into taking antibiotics to feel back to normal,” Pleuss said. “My stomach was still very bloated, and food was hard to eat. I had no appetite or energy, even after the diarrhea subsided.”
Despite the setback, the couple was able to spend a few days enjoying their “happily ever after” honeymoon, which wraps up Friday.
“We had to stay in hotels longer in cities rather than exploring the parks,” Pleuss said. “We did, however, eventually make it to Glacier National Park, where I finally was able to enjoy myself fully, hike, and camp as we had planned.”
Since May 1, the U.S. has recorded 4,173 laboratory-confirmed Cyclospora cases across 41 states, with health officials investigating more than 7,400 additional reported infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. The outbreak has hospitalized 308 people, though no deaths have been reported.
The main symptoms of a Cyclospora infection include watery diarrhea, fatigue and loss of appetite. Most people start feeling sick about a week after being exposed, though symptoms can appear anywhere from two days to more than two weeks later, according to the CDC.
The outbreak has been linked to shredded iceberg lettuce, prompting Taylor Farms de Mexico to voluntarily recall all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico after the FDA traced the illnesses to what the company said is a single farm that supplies less than 1 percent of the U.S. iceberg lettuce market.
The recalled lettuce was distributed to Taco Bell restaurants linked to the multistate outbreak. The chain has since removed Taylor Farms lettuce from its locations.
The FDA continues to urge consumers not to eat the recalled Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce, saying there's strong evidence linking a separate batch of the lettuce to the Cyclospora outbreak.
The warning remains in place even though a lab test that initially detected the parasite in one sample was determined to be a false positive over the weekend.
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