One thing not being widely reported is that this disease is spread by fecal contamination. i.e. food or water being contaminated by human waste.

It’s true it is not in every article, but I think one of the main reasons it is excluded is that it is not spread like C. difficile or E. coli where you need to be extra vigilant around an infected person because the infection is viable from the material um…shed by the sick person.

One way to think of it is that it lays eggs in the host and the eggs need some time before they hatch and can infect another person. So if people are concerned with avoiding infected people, they may ignore the most likely route of transmission, which is uncooked fruit and veg. We don’t know exactly what caused it, but given the spread it was likely contamination at a farm or farms.

I brought this bad boy home with me from Cuba a decade ago. I had gotten all the recommended travel vaccines including for E. Coli, and followed advice about what fresh foods to avoid, but perhaps some of that was in contact with what I ate. It’s often “self limiting” but still not a great time. Once it was detected (via stool sample) public health called me to figure out where I got it.

Anyways, I don’t think they are hiding it so much as it’s not super relevant to prevention.