Cyclosporiasis Shamed; Or, Are Cyclospora Democratic or Republican?

​Books by Patti Liszkay Available on Kindle in Six Languages

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​Cyclosporiasis Shamed; Or, Are Cyclospora Democratic or Republican?

      Recently I was out brunching with The Posse, as my group of lady friends refer to ourselves when we get together weekly to nosh and discuss many things. 
      Or, when we're not out noshing, we're just as likely to be out representing for the causes we stand aligned on.

        However, on this particular day, after my meal arrived, my usual order of  a Golden Waffle with a side of fruit,

​...one of the ladies asked me if I was going to eat that fruit.     
       For a brief moment I thought maybe she wanted my fruit. But no, quite the contrary: my friend was concerned about me eating the fruit, there being a nationwide - or, I don't know, maybe it's just in the Midwest at the moment - anyway, as most of us know, there's an outbreak of a dreadful parasite called Cyclospora that causes a dreadful disease called Cyclosporiasis,

 ...the current epicenter of which appears to be in the Toledo, Ohio area.
         Granted, Toledo is over 100 miles from where we are in Columbus, but still, who can say what 100 miles means in parasite migration? 
         True, most of the warnings about avoiding Cyclosporiasis seem to be about avoiding lettuce, a certain brand and kind of lettuce having been so far fingered as the chief culprit in the spread of that awful sickness. However, there's also a school of thought that maintains that we should avoid eating all fresh produce  for the time being, or at least all fresh produce that has not been meticulously washed at home, preferably with a parasite-killing produce spray.
          Anyway, my Posse, on the day that I ordered the fruit, seemed to be in agreement that these days going to a restaurant and ordering and consuming fresh fruit, the provenance, handling and washing of which we don't know, is playing Cyclosporiasis roulette.
        However, despite my friends' concern, I ate my waffle with fruit anyway. I also asked a couple of them if, since they had no intention of eating the fresh blueberries that came with their blueberry pancakes, I could have their blueberries. Which they gave me, seeing as I was heck-bent upon throwing caution and good sense to the wind and eating  any and all fresh restaurant fruit during a Cyclosporiasis outbreak.

        Now, I want to make one thing clear:  I'm not a Cyclosporiasis denier. It's just that I really like fruits with my waffle. And I really like blueberries. So, I, you know, ate them.
        Later in the day I got to pondering about the politics of disease; I mean, how the seriousness of some diseases is embraced by Democrats, while the seriousness of others is embraced by Republicans. For example, Democrats have been all about preventing the spread of COVID-19 and measles, while Republicans worry more about the Ebola virus hitching a ride and landing on our shores.
        However, the Cyclospora parasite seems not to have any particular party affiliation; that is, neither party has yet tried to score any political points from its noxious existence. It seems to be a bipartisan bug that we're all, whatever our persuasion, equally worried about.
         Well, okay, maybe some of us not quite as much as others.