Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Control of Trichinellosis

Abstract

SUMMARY Throughout much of the world, Trichinella spp. are found to be the causative agents of human trichinellosis, a disease that not only is a public health hazard by affecting human patients but also represents an economic problem in porcine animal production and food safety. Due to the predominantly zoonotic importance of infection, the main efforts in many countries have focused on the control of Trichinella or the elimination of Trichinella from the food chain. The most important source of human infection worldwide is the domestic pig, but, e.g., in Europe, meats of horses and wild boars have played a significant role during outbreaks within the past 3 decades. Infection of humans occurs with the ingestion of Trichinella larvae that are encysted in muscle tissue of domestic or wild animal meat. Early clinical diagnosis of trichinellosis is rather difficult because pathognomonic signs or symptoms are lacking. Subsequent chronic forms of the disease are not easy to diagnose, irrespective of parameters including clinical findings, laboratory findings (nonspecific laboratory parameters such as eosinophilia, muscle enzymes, and serology), and epidemiological investigations. New regulations laying down rules for official controls for Trichinella in meat in order to improve food safety for consumers have recently been released in Europe. The evidence that the disease can be monitored and to some extent controlled with a rigorous reporting and testing system in place should be motivation to expand appropriate programs worldwide.

The low global burden of trichinellosis: evidence and implications

“…Infection occurs when humans consume raw or undercooked meat of different animal origins, e.g. pork, horse or game, containing muscle larvae (Gottstein et al, 2009). Clinical signs of trichinellosis are various and not pathognomonic, making the diagnosis complicated, which leads to medical misclassification and underreporting.…”

Assessment of selected biochemical parameters and humoral immune response of Nile crocodiles (<i>Crocodylus niloticus</i>) experimentally infected with <i>Trichinella zimbabwensis</i>

“…Apart from their sylvatic and domestic animal hosts, several Trichinella species infect humans; the most important species are Trichinella spiralis and Trichinella britovi (Gottstein et al 2009). Humans become infected through the consumption of raw or undercooked meat from infected animals (Dupouy-Camet 2000; Gottstein et al 2009).…”

“…Humans become infected through the consumption of raw or undercooked meat from infected animals (Dupouy-Camet 2000; Gottstein et al 2009). The zoonotic importance of Trichinella forms the basis for the implementation of measures aimed at the control or eradication of the parasite from the human food chain (Gottstein et al 2009;Mukaratirwa et al 2013).…”

“…Humans become infected through the consumption of raw or undercooked meat from infected animals (Dupouy-Camet 2000; Gottstein et al 2009). The zoonotic importance of Trichinella forms the basis for the implementation of measures aimed at the control or eradication of the parasite from the human food chain (Gottstein et al 2009;Mukaratirwa et al 2013). However, despite implementation of control measures, trichinellosis remains a major zoonotic threat in many parts of the world (Mukaratirwa et al 2013;Murrell & Pozio 2011).…”

“…Serum levels of CPK, LDH and AST are considered to be supplementary in the diagnosis of Trichinella infections in humans (Gottstein et al 2009). Jongwutiwes et al (1998) reported elevated levels of CPK, LDH, AST and ALT in human patients infected with Trichinella pseudospiralis.…”