A few days after exchanging vows that promised “in sickness and in health,” Gretchen Pleuss and her husband found themselves putting those words to the test during their honeymoon at Yellowstone National Park.
What began as a camping trip turned into a medical ordeal when Pleuss, of Wisconsin, became ill with cyclosporiasis, a parasitic infection caused by Cyclospora. “I felt fine until we got out here, and a couple of days into camping here, I started having symptoms,” Pleuss said.
She suffered from severe diarrhea and abdominal pain that sent her to an emergency room. Pleuss described the pain as feeling as though her intestines were “really tight, like something is seizing them.”
Pleuss believes she may have contracted the parasite after eating a sandwich containing shredded lettuce during the trip.
Instead of spending their honeymoon exploring Yellowstone’s hiking trails and geothermal attractions, the newlyweds found themselves making frequent trips to the bathroom. Still, they said they relied on the commitment they had just made to each other.
“Our vows said in sickness and in health, so we’re just getting an early start on that,” Pleuss said.
Despite the setback, the couple has remained optimistic, treating the experience as an unexpected lesson in resilience while continuing to enjoy what they can of their visit as Pleuss recovers.
U.S. health officials are investigating a multistate outbreak of cyclosporiasis linked to contaminated shredded iceberg lettuce.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the parasitic intestinal illness sickened nearly 3,000 across the U.S. The agency has also identified more than 5,100 additional potential cases that require further analysis to determine whether they are domestically acquired.
Health officials associated the outbreak with shredded lettuce. California-based Taylor Farms has voluntarily recalled all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration traced the outbreak to an independent farm in the region.
The California-based farm accounts for less than 1 percent of the U.S. lettuce supply, but it removed all iceberg lettuce from central Mexico from the U.S. market as a precaution.
The recall followed a CDC investigation that identified lettuce supplied to Taco Bell restaurants as a source of the multistate outbreak.
Authorities continue to monitor the outbreak and urge the public to follow food safety guidance, especially when traveling.
