what it is, what are the symptoms, the therapies, how to prevent it – breaking latest news

Following some cases of trichinosis (or trichinellosis) in humans, ascertained in the province of Foggia, the local health authorities have launched checks on food of animal origin suspected of having caused the trichinella infestation.

What is trichinosis

The disease caused byingestion Of raw or undercooked meat (or their derivatives, for example: fresh sausages) haunted, pork, wild boar and horsemeat, which contains nematode larvae, i.e. microscopic worms of the genus Trichinella.
Trichinosis occurs after an incubation period of 2 to 12 days.
Most of the infections, as reported by the Ministry of Health, occur in the winter period which coincides with hunting, with the slaughter of pigs from family farms and therefore not controlled and with flu epidemics.
In Italy in the last decade the main source of infection represented by meat and their derivatives of wild boars coming from hunting and not subjected to veterinary control.

Symptoms

The severity of the clinical symptoms depends on the dose of infective larvae ingested. Many cases remain altogether asymptomaticor manifest gods mild symptoms, which are often attributed to other morbid forms. In the early stages of the clinical course the disease can be mistaken for the flu.
In other cases, first there are disturbances affecting the digestive tract (diarrhoea, vomiting, pain), subsequently (when the larvae that get rid of the ingested cysts pass into the circulation) fhigh fever and widespread rheumatic pains. After 3 weekswhen the larvae encyst in the muscles, they appear muscle aches, asthenia, weakness, wasting.
In severe infestations you can have andncephalitis, pneumonia, meningitis, myocarditis, or other complications such as to lead to the death of patients.

Diagnosis and therapies

Diagnosis is usually made by identifying larvae in muscle biopsies, or on the basis of serological reactions.
The therapy is based on the use of deworming drugs.
The World Health Organization recommends treatment with an anthelmintic combined with an anti-inflammatory, starting as soon as possible after diagnosis.

Prevention

prophylaxis is important, which essentially requires food hygiene measures, essentially the proper cooking of meat and the cleaning of meat to be eaten raw. Cooking meat at 65C kills the parasite, but it is important that this temperature is reached in the heart of the food. In any case for prevent human infection good to avoid the consumption of raw or undercooked meat – and their derivatives – of pork, horse or wild boar that have not been previously subjected to veterinary checks.

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