Trichinosis



Trichinosis

Introduction

Trichinosis is caused by eating raw or undercooked meat, often pork or boar, containing Trichinella cysts. It can also be found in the flesh of other animals such as dogs, cats, lions, leopards, bears, horses, foxes, wolves, hyenas, jackals rat, walrus, crocodile, birds, etc. Trichinosis is a parasitic disease which is transmissible. Infection usually occurs without any symptoms or complications. Trichinella is originally located in the gut. Within a few days after infection begins, symptoms like diarrhea, heartburn, indigestion and nausea occur. The severity of the symptoms depends on the degree of contamination. Later, depending on the location of the parasite in different parts of the body, there may be headache, fever, chills, cough, swelling, pain in joints and muscles, and itching (Chen, 2000). In the case if the dangerous parasite invades the central nervous system, it cannot survive there, but can cause damage sufficient to produce serious neurological deficits (e.g., ataxia, or paralysis of the respiratory tract), and even death. Trihinelleznoe eye disease is accompanied by proptosis, swelling of the face, unilateral ptosis, diplopia observed, weak convergence, painful eye movements, intraocular hemorrhage, etc. This infection is usually occurs due to the consumption of undercooked or raw meat. Consuming pig flesh is the major reason of the prevalence of this infection.

Research Question

With the improvement in the pig raising practices in the pig industry as well avoiding the practice of cooking undercooked meat decreases the chances of Trichinosis infection.

Review of Literature

It is a disease caused by a parasite worm that is hosted in the muscles of pigs and other wild animals, such as wild boar and puma. People become infected by consuming pork, sausages or undercooked meats, especially if they are homemade. In the case of pigs they contract the disease when fed in landfills with waste or scrap of food, where they live rodents. Trichinosis is a causative agent of Trichinella spiralis (Paget, 1835, Owen, 1835). In nature, there are other types - T. pseudospiralis, T. nativa, T. nelsoni. Their role is less well studied species independence debate. Trichinella is small, almost thread-like worms (thrix - hair), covered with a cross-striated cuticle (Moorhead et al, 2009). Body of T. spiralis is rounded, somewhat narrowed to the front end. Length of mature males 1.2-2 mm, width 0.04-0.05 mm. Length of adult female 1.5-1.8 mm before fertilization, after fertilization its length increases to 4.4 mm. People suffer from trichinosis from eating infected pork or encapsulated larvae of wild meat. In the process of digestion larvae are released from the capsules and in an hour embedded in the mucosa, submucosa reaching the small intestine. A day later they turn into males and females. Mature individuals with cerebral stylet attached to the intestinal mucosa, which then copulate.

In the body of various animals female Trichinella parasite from 10 to 56 days, giving birth from 200 to 2,000 live larvae. During the entire period of parasitism in the human gut (no more than 42-56 days); one female gives birth to an average ...