Ukraine

Zhytomyr, Ukraine
28-DEC-2004
Mignews.com.ua (translated and re-written)

Four people were infected with Trichinella spiralis who live in the town of Kropivnya in the Korostyshevskeyeo region, Zhytomyr District of the Ukraine. They ate pork products from a pig that was identified as being sick just before being slaughtered. 

The owner killed the pig for their own use, while 11 other people had obtained portions of the same pig. The four people suffering from clinical symptoms were hospitalized and diagnosed as having contracted trichinellosis. The local health department is aware of the situation and is instituting preventive measures.

Information. Trichinosis can be an acute disease of man and animals, connected with parasitism of the mature and larval stages of the roundworm - Trichinella spiralis. Infection occurs with the use of infected pork products insufficiently cooked or not frozen before being eaten. Heat-treated meat (1370 F for 10 mins.) of the infected animals (domestic pig, wild boar, bear, and other wild mammals) renders the meat safe to eat. Freezing kills larvae in pork, but not in wild animal muscle tissue.

The seriousness of disease depends upon the intensity of infection; symptoms include facial edema, fever, severe muscle pain, rash complicated by myocarditis, allergic injury of lungs, central nervous system damage and leakage of the vascular system. Many infections are asymptomatic, while some 5% of cases prove fatal.