The cases of trichinosis found in San Marco in Lamis by the veterinary hygiene service of food of animal origin of the ASL Foggia will almost certainly rise to ten, which for some weeks has launched a widespread control and verification activity of food products with suspected trichinella infestation .
The first positives were ascertained at the beginning of last month, while the contagion could have occurred in the first days of January: “The incubation period is quite long” let FoggiaToday know Lino Centolanza, medical director of Asl Fg: “A characteristic sign that everyone has had is edema of the eyelids with skin rash” points out. Muscle pains are the real alarm bell.
The conditions of the infected and hospitalized woman – also for other reasons – at the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza hospital are not worrying. Four other patients are undergoing home therapy with deworming drugs. None of the infected would have claimed to have eaten wild boar meat, least of all resulting from a hunting trip.
However, the suspicions focused on the ingestion of the meat of an ungulate, certainly not subjected to control, probably killed during a hunting activity; probably frozen and eaten at a later time. Treatment that would not guarantee 100% the death of the parasite larvae.
Subsequent checks carried out in some butchers in the city of the two convents were negative.
In recent days five people belonging to the same family unit, including a small girl, after experiencing specific symptoms, went to the emergency room in San Giovanni Rotondo. They are fine. The tests of the serological samples were sent to the Istituto Superiore di Sanità in Rome, which should make the positivity official ad horas.
Dr. Centolanza tends to exclude that there may be others infected, because, he specifies, “it is a disease that does not go unnoticed and causes problems”. The advice of the medical director is to eat well-cooked meat: “The offending meats are pork, pork and wild boar. There are no dangers for beef because it does not eat infected animal carcasses” adds.
The contagion, however, is only food. There is no risk of the infection being transmitted between people.
What is trichinella
Trichinella spreads above all in carnivorous and omnivorous species (wolf, wild boar, fox, badger, dog, cat, man). The parasite resists for a long time in rotting meat and, when in nature the muscle tissue is ingested by another animal (fox, wolf, wild boar, pig, etc.), the cycle resumes. Man becomes ill exclusively via food through the consumption of raw or insufficiently cooked meat, containing parasite larvae.
Symptoms and diagnosis
In humans, the clinical picture varies from asymptomatic infections to particularly serious cases, with some deaths. The classic symptomatology is characterized by diarrhea (which is present in about 40% of infected individuals), muscle pain, weakness, sweating, upper eyelid edema, photophobia and fever. The diagnosis is suggested by the presence of marked eosinophilia (up to 70%), leukocytosis, increased muscle enzymes (Cpk) and confirmed by serological tests, or positive muscle biopsy for Trichinella. The incubation period in humans is generally between 8 and 15 days but can vary between 5 and 45 days, depending on the amount of parasites ingested. The parasite is able to resist freezing at -15 C° for a month but is inactivated when the cooking temperature in the heart of the meat reaches 70 C° for at least 4 minutes.
Prevention
Trichinellosis can be prevented by observing the following hygienic-sanitary measures: the meat must be eaten well cooked, so that any larvae present are inactivated or destroyed by the heat (1 minute at 65°C is sufficient). The color of the meat should change from pink to brown. Game and pigs slaughtered at home must be examined by a veterinarian to determine the presence of parasite larvae in the meat, if it is not known whether the meat has undergone a trichinoscopic examination, it should be frozen for at least 1 month at -15 °C: prolonged freezing, in fact, kills the larvae. If you raise pigs, prevent them from eating the raw meat of animals, even rats, which may have been infested with the parasite. When butchering your own meat at home, clean your tools well. Salting, drying, smoking and microwaving meat do not kill the parasite. The preparation of cured meats and sausages is at risk if the meat is not previously subjected to a trichinoscopic examination: drying, salting and smoking do not ensure the death of the parasites. To avoid dangers to humans and the spread of the disease, all pigs slaughtered at home for family use and all wild boars slaughtered during hunting must be examined and meat checked by the Food Hygiene Veterinary Service of Animal Origin (Area B), as required by law; report to the Area C Veterinary Service the presence of carcasses of dead animals in the woods (in particular, foxes and wolves); do not abandon entrails and wild boar carcasses in the environment (because if infested with trichinella, as previously indicated, they could perpetuate the cycle among wild animals).
The recommendations of Asl Fg
The control activities of the Veterinary Service of hygiene and control of food of animal origin will continue throughout the territory of the province of Foggia and on all establishments that deal with meat (or meat-based) products, in order to guarantee the protection of public health through compliance with the rules and regulations on hygiene. The Asl Foggia therefore invites those who practice hunting to call the Veterinary Services at the numbers 338.9539262 and 333.4929127 to indicate where the wild boar carcass is kept, in order to be able to proceed with the health inspection and the related muscle sampling for the trichichoscopic examination (which is free); who intends to slaughter pigs at home for family use to inform the Veterinary Service of Area B in advance on the numbers 338.9539262 and 333.4929127 of the place and day of slaughter. It will be the responsibility of the Veterinary Doctor to indicate the correct procedure to be performed and the time of the intervention. This is in order to comply with current animal welfare and public health regulations.