Published in Scientific Papers. Series D. Animal Science, Vol. LXVII, Issue 1
Written by Sabina-Gabriela RĂCĂȘANU (GHIZDAVEȚ), Ionuț RĂCĂȘANU, Dănuț-Nicolae ENEA, Alexandru MIHAI, Stelian BĂRĂITĂREANU, Laura Florentina VLĂSCEANU, Livia VIDU
Trichinosis is a disease caused by a nematode parasite of the genus Trichinella spp. This zoonosis has been a major public health problem in many countries. The main source of infection in our country is the domestic pig. It is contaminated by eating food scraps containing raw meat infested with Trichinella spp., eating rats, mice or their droppings or by contact with wild animals. Secondary sources of infection are wild boar and bear. Humans get sick after eating meat infested with larvae enclosed in muscle tissue, insufficiently cooked, curd, roast or smoked. The difficulty in establishing the diagnosis is due to the fact that this disease does not manifest itself clinically and does not present pathognomonic signs and the parasite and its larvae are not visible to the naked eye. The main diagnostic method is represented by the trichinelloscopic examination performed by the veterinarian from a sample of meat collected from certain areas, mainly from the diaphragmatic pillars. In humans, the clinical manifestations are represented by fever, diarrhea, muscle pain, facial edema, eye hemorrhages - retinal and subconjunctival and subungual. All organs, meat and by-products obtained from pigs infected with Trichinella spp. are forbidden to be consumed and are destroyed by burning.
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