An outbreak of the parasitic infection, trichinosis, has been reported in the city of Bahía Blanca, a city located in the south-west of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to a La Verdad Online report (computer translated).
Public domain image/Grelavia wikimedia commons
The local media reports that more than 100 people have been infected with 20 percent of those sickened being children. The consumption of dry sausages has named as the source of the infections.
The dry sausage is from a clandestine Grünbein farm where six pigs and 2 kilos of products were seized. In addition, it was confirmed that there are 3 persons in the Penna Hospital hospitalized for their illness.
In February, it was reported that in the city of Pehuajó more than 160 people with trichinosis were infected after consuming tainted dry sausages.
Trichinellosis, or trichinosis is a parasitic disease caused most commonly by the roundworm Trichinella spiralis. If someone ingests undercooked or raw meat with the encysted larvae, the stomach acid releases the larvae which mature to adults in the intestine.
After about a week the female starts releasing larvae which enter the bloodstream and find their way to skeletal muscle where they encapsulate.
There can be gastrointestinal symptoms mimicking acute food poisoning when there is activity of the adults in the intestine.
Sudden appearance of fever, muscle soreness and pain with swelling of parts of the face is early classic signs. This can sometimes be followed by retinal hemorrhages and other ocular signs.
With heavy infections cardiac, respiratory and neurological problems may ensue with death by heart failure being most common. The more larvae you ingest, the more serious the disease.
Image/CDC
Robert Herriman is a microbiologist and the Editor-in-Chief of Outbreak News Today and the Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch
Follow @bactiman63
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