“We are dealing with a zoonosis, or rather a disease caused by the presence of a parasite present in infected animal meat”, explains Federico Gobbi, director of the Infectious and Tropical Diseases department of the IRCCS Sacro Cuore di Negrar
The balance of confirmed cases of trichinosis in the province of is growing Foggia. The total number of people affected by this infectious disease in San Marco in Lamis has reached 10, but it is not excluded that new cases will emerge in the coming days. The veterinary service of hygiene of food of animal origin of the ASL Foggia has already started a widespread control and verification activity of food products with suspected trichinella infestation for some weeks. “We are faced with a zoonosis, or a disease caused by the presence of a parasite present in infected animal meat“, explains Federico Gobbi, director of the Infectious and Tropical Diseases department of the IRCCS Sacro Cuore of Negrar (Verona). The perpetrators of the infectious disease are nematodes, cylindrical worms belonging to the genus Trichinella, a parasite that initially localizes in the intestine and then gives rise to a new generation of larvae that migrate into the muscles, where they then encyst. Transmission to humans occurs exclusively via food, through the consumption of raw or undercooked meat containing the larvae of the parasite. “In Italy, the vehicle of transmission – specifies the Higher Institute of Health – it is pork (pork or wild boar), equine and more rarely of wild carnivores (fox). Trichinosis is not passed on from person to person.”
Gobbi specifies: “People then become infected by eating contaminated raw and undercooked meat”. The incubation period is usually around 8-15 days but can range from 5 to 45 days depending on the number of parasites ingested. “In humans, the clinical picture – continues the ISS – varies from asymptomatic infections to particularly serious cases, with some deaths. Classical symptomatology is characterized by diarrhea (which is present in about 40% of infected individuals), pains muscles, weakness, sweating, upper eyelid edema, photophobia and fever”. Adds Gobbi: “There is therefore a wide range of symptoms, but there can be even asymptomatic cases”. Prevention is the best way to protect yourself from these parasites. “Cooking allows you to eliminate the risks”, underlines Gobbi. Any larvae present, in fact, 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. Among the recommendations listed by the ISS there is also that of having game and pigs slaughtered at home examined by a veterinarian.
Alternatively, the meat can 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”, is another recommendation from the ISS, according to which when you slaughter your own meat at home, it is good also clean the tools well. Furthermore, the ISS specifies that salting, drying, smoking and cooking meat in the microwave oven do not ensure the killing of the parasite. “Trichinosis has an epidemic nature: the infected animal can be eaten by several people and therefore give rise to several cases”, underlines Gobbi. “To protect yourself, it is therefore good to make sure you eat meat only after it has been well cooked,” he concludes.