Background: Cyclosporiasis is a food- and waterborne illness in humans caused by the consumption of contaminated food or water. As the causative agent, Cyclospora cayetanensis, has only been recently described, the published literature is limited and no scoping reviews on this topic have yet been conducted.

Objectives: Our objective is to conduct a scoping review of the epidemiology, detection in matrix, and intervention/control of C. cayetanensis worldwide in humans, plant-based food, and in the environment with the aim of identifying gaps in the literature, potential areas where there may be sufficient literature to warrant a systematic review, and prioritizing future research directions.

Eligibility criteria: All primary research, systematic reviews, scoping reviews and quantitative risk assessments in English, conducted anywhere in the world on the epidemiology, detection in matrix, and intervention/control of Cyclospora cayetanensis are eligible. Studies of the pathogenesis, diagnosis of illness in people, and treatment of cyclosporiasis are not eligible.

Sources of evidence: The following databases will be searched: MEDLINE® (Web of ScienceTM), Agricola (ProQuest), CABI Global Health, and Food Science and Technology Abstracts (EBSCOhost) from 1979 to the present.

Charting methods: We will extract information on general study characteristics, study purpose (epidemiology, detection, control) and within each of these categories, the study setting, study design, life cycle stage of Cyclospora investigated, and matrices tested. Based on the purpose of the study we will also extract the method of detection evaluated, risk factors for human illness, environmental and food contamination, incidence/prevalence in the environment and on food types, or the control approaches investigated.