Index
It is a disease present in most of the world, from North America and Europe to Japan, China and tropical Africa.
Some regions that are not really affected are Puerto Rico and Australia.
By highlighting the incidences of transmission through portions of uncooked meat, specifically pork, trichinosis affects the scope of food and culture in its specific regions.Let’s see how the disease developed over the years:
What’s in a name?
The main agent of trichinosis is Trichinella spiralis, which is a tissue nematode that immediately infects the epithelium of the small intestine. It has four other species:
- Native T. occurs in Arctic and subarctic zones; high pathogenicity, high resistance to freezing.
- T. nelsoni: occurs in tropical Africa; intermediate in pathogenicity.
- T. britovi: occurs in the temperate paleoartic region, very low pathogenicity.
- T. pseudospiralis: cosmopolitan, not enquista, infections in birds, pathogenicity in humans not well characterized.
History of the discovery of trichinosis
In 1835, two men by the name of Sir Richard Owen and Sir James Paget worked in the London laboratory.
Sir Paget was just a freshman medical student at the time, and was under the direction of Sir Owen during an autopsy. Both gentlemen observed the mass of worms that lined the diaphragm of the corpse.
With his scientific enthusiasm, Sir Paget decides to collect some of this tissue to observe the worms a little more closely.
However, without alerting his student, Sir Owen, he decided to inform the zoological society of London about the findings of this new parasite, providing his current name.
What is interesting is that one day after the discovery, Sir Paget decided to write to his brother about the new scientific observation. If this were not the case, the discovery of Trichinosis would only be credited to Sir Owens.
Causes
Trichinosis begins its infection with larvae of T. spiralis. There is transmission when ingesting this larva; A nematode worm called: Trchinella Spiralis, which is found mostly in pork.
The objectives of this parasite are usually bears, rats and also pigs, which are fed with garbage that has not been treated properly or with the remains of the slaughterhouse.
When the host involves humans, the cause of the infection is due to the consumption of pork, specifically that which is not cooked.
In those cases in which the parasitization is massive, the person can even reach death if not treated in time.
symptom
The incubation period of T. spiralis lasts between 1 and 2 weeks.
The first week after the ingestion of the parasite, the human host may experience:
- Sickness.
- Febrile diarrhea
- Abdominal pains
More clinical signs continue to develop, ranging from the second week to 2 months after ingestion, which gives the larvae the opportunity to circulate and infect more tissues within the body. These signs include symptoms such as:
- Myalgia fever, which is muscle pain.
- Conjunctival hemorrhage
- Edemas periorbitario.
The larvae have the ability to survive inside their host for years. After this two-month period, clinical signs that span up to 2 years of ingestion include:
- The calcification of the skeletal muscle that the larvae attack inside their hosts.
- Myocardial failure
- Impairment of neurological function.
Diagnosis
The best diagnosis of a person suffering from this disease by bacteria has been and remains a muscle sample or biopsy for further analysis and blood analysis.
Treatment
Trichinosis, despite being an invasive disease that considerably affects the quality of life of those who see it, is not considered a serious disease, so if treatment is basically pharmacological, and in this sense the patient should take:
- Antiparasitic: for example albendazole , mebendazole, which are usually effective to eradicate the larva of the intestine.
- Analgesics: since in the stage of illness that is characterized by muscular pains, you will need them to reduce the pain.
- Corticosteroids: these are recommended because in certain cases when the worm responsible for trichinosis penetrates to the muscle tissue, it usually excretes chemicals that cause allergic reactions.
Morphology
Ingestion occurs, the larvae are released from the surrounding walls of the cyst. This is due to the acidity of digestion with pepsin, which allows the larvae to move to the small intestine.
From this point, the larvae attack the villi that are found in the epithelial cells and continue to develop into adult worms after approximately 30 hours.
The number of larvae released depends on the species and the guests involved. The female can release up to 500 larvae (.08 mm in size) over a period of two weeks and then excreted together with the host’s debris.
The new larvae circulate throughout the body and attack the skeletal muscles of the host to survive. Three weeks later, the parasites have grown to ten times the original length and are now able to infect new hosts.
Time also allows them to produce calcium debris inside the muscles to produce the walls of the cyst, prolonging its useful life for several ears.
The adult male worms have a size of 1.5 by 0.05 mm, while the females, on average, have a size of 3.5 by .06 mm.
