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Medically reviewed by Dr. Kiyan Rad, DO — Medical Director, Sanova Urgent Care, Tucson, AZ
It started like a stomach bug. Then it didn't stop. Three weeks in, the watery diarrhea is still there — maybe it eased off for a couple of days and came roaring back. You've lost your appetite, you're wrung out, and if you've already been tested, you may have been told nothing was found.
That last part is the tell. One of the more common causes of weeks-long diarrhea in Arizona is a parasite that routine stool testing does not reliably detect — unless someone specifically asks the lab to look for it.
Open Monday–Saturday, 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM · Closed Sunday
15883 N Oracle Rd, Suite 101, Tucson, AZ 85739
Medically reviewed by Dr. Kiyan Rad, DO, board-certified internal medicine physician and Medical Director, Sanova Urgent Care
Cyclospora cayetanensis is a microscopic parasite that infects the small intestine. You don't catch it from another person the way you catch a stomach virus — the CDC notes it spreads through food or water contaminated with the parasite, and it needs time outside the body before it becomes infectious. Fresh produce is the usual vehicle.
It is not a bug you sweat out over a long weekend. Untreated, cyclosporiasis can run from a few days to more than a month, and the illness has a habit that fools people: symptoms fade, you assume it's over, and then it comes back.
The individual symptoms are unremarkable. The pattern is what points at a parasite:
If you are in week three of something you assumed was food poisoning, that is not how food poisoning behaves. It is worth being evaluated.
Three very different things that all start the same way.
| Viral stomach bug | Bacterial food poisoning | Cyclospora | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onset | 12–48 hours | Hours after the meal | About a week after exposure |
| Main symptom | Vomiting and diarrhea | Cramping, diarrhea, vomiting | Watery diarrhea |
| Fever | Common | Common | Low-grade or none |
| Duration | 1–3 days | Days | Weeks to over a month |
| Comes back after easing off | No | No | Characteristically, yes |
| Do antibiotics help? | No | Sometimes | Yes — specific ones |
| Found on a routine stool panel | n/a | Usually | Often missed |
Patterns narrow it down. Only testing settles it.
This is the part worth knowing even if you never walk through our door.
A standard stool ova-and-parasite screen is not designed to catch this organism. The CDC's clinical guidance puts it plainly: testing for Cyclospora "requires special stains or other laboratory procedures that are not routinely conducted in most U.S. laboratories," and clinicians are told to specifically request it. During the 2026 surge, CDC went further and issued a health alert to clinicians reminding them to ask for Cyclospora testing by name, and to consider it in anyone with prolonged or relapsing watery diarrhea even without recent travel.
When your history fits, we order Cyclospora-specific stool testing — the special-stain or PCR panel — rather than only the routine screen. We issue the collection cup here and send the specimen to our reference lab. CDC also notes that people who are symptomatic may not shed enough of the parasite to be picked up on a single sample, so more than one specimen on different days is sometimes needed.
If you have already been tested somewhere and told it was negative, that result may simply have been the wrong test. It is a reasonable thing to ask about.
Cyclosporiasis is treated with antibiotics — and specifically, the treatment of choice for most adults is trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX), per CDC clinical guidance. Your provider makes that call with your history and allergies in hand.
Rest and fluids matter, but they treat the consequences, not the cause. That distinction is the reason a diagnosis is worth chasing: many healthy people do eventually clear the parasite on their own, but "eventually" can mean another month of this.
Weeks of diarrhea takes a toll, and in Tucson it does it faster. If you're light-headed standing up, not urinating much, or can't keep fluids down, drinking more water is no longer the answer.
We can give IV fluids on site during the same visit, and there's more on how that works in our walk-in IV therapy guide. Lab work is drawn here too — see on-site lab testing.
If you're reading about Cyclospora because of the news, here is the current position rather than the July one.
CDC declared the multistate iceberg lettuce outbreak over on 11 September 2026. Daily case counts had fallen from over a thousand at the peak to fewer than two by August.
570 hospitalisations and 2 deaths, according to CDC's final outbreak summary.
Processed iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico, recalled 17 July. FDA confirms the best-by dates have passed and the product is no longer in stores or restaurants.
So: lettuce is not currently the problem. But Cyclospora did not leave with the outbreak — it is endemic to the food supply, cases occur every year, and they cluster in late spring and summer. If your symptoms fit, the test is still worth asking for.
Walk-in care is right for most prolonged diarrhea. Go to an emergency room — or call 911 — for:
Not sure? Call (520) 232-2525 and we'll help you decide.
Posted self-pay rate for the visit:
If you're using insurance, we accept:
Stool testing sent to the reference lab is billed separately. HSA and FSA cards are accepted. See costs and insurance.
We're at 15883 N Oracle Rd, Suite 101 — the walk-in clinic on the Oracle Road corridor for Oro Valley, Rancho Vistoso, Catalina, Sun City Oro Valley, SaddleBrooke, Marana, and Northwest Tucson.
We issue the collection cup here and send it to our reference lab with Cyclospora-specific testing requested — not just the routine screen that can miss it.
Dr. Kiyan Rad, Beth Brown FNP, and Kim Wall FNP. Meet the team.
| Day | Hours |
|---|---|
| Monday–Saturday | 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM |
| Sunday | Closed |
Untreated, anywhere from a few days to more than a month, often with symptoms that fade and return. Treatment shortens it for most people.
Not reliably. CDC states that Cyclospora testing needs special stains or molecular methods most labs don't run as part of a routine ova-and-parasite panel — it has to be requested specifically.
Yes. When your history fits, we request Cyclospora-specific stool testing, issue the collection cup here, and send the specimen to our reference lab.
Not directly from person to person. It spreads through contaminated food or water, and the parasite needs time outside the body before it can infect someone.
The treatment of choice is trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX). Your provider decides based on your history and allergies.
Many healthy people eventually recover without treatment, but that can mean more than a month of relapsing diarrhea. Treatment is usually the better trade.
No. CDC declared it over on 11 September 2026, and FDA says the recalled product is past its best-by dates and no longer in stores or restaurants.
No. Walk in Monday through Saturday, 7am to 7pm. You can pre-register online to shorten check-in.
If diarrhea has outlasted what any ordinary bug should, walk in and let a provider order the right test — not just the routine one.
Sanova Urgent Care · 15883 N Oracle Rd, Suite 101, Tucson, AZ 85739 · Get directions
This article is for general information and does not replace an evaluation by a licensed provider. In an emergency, call 911.
Dr. Kiyan Rad, DO, is a board-certified internal medicine and obesity medicine physician and Medical Director of Sanova Urgent Care in Catalina, AZ, serving Oro Valley, SaddleBrooke and north Tucson. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, President of the Medical Executive Committee at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Northwest Tucson, and former Chief of Medicine at Carondelet St. Joseph’s Hospital. He earned his DO from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. On this blog, he shares practical guidance on urgent care, chronic disease, metabolic health and recovery after a hospital stay.
