Explosive Diarrhea Outbreak Is a Master Class in Miscommunication

Over the weekend, the Food and Drug Administration sent Americans trying to navigate the cyclospora outbreak into a tailspin. A day after Taylor Farms announced a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce in 27 states — generating one set of alarming headlines — the FDA said that a test linking the company’s lettuce to the parasite had been wrong, leading to seemingly contradictory coverage.