Health authorities in the municipality of General Madariaga, in Buenos Aires Province, declared a state of health alert after confirming an outbreak of trichinosis that registered six positive cases and 45 people under medical supervision.
The outbreak is linked to consumption of homemade sausages distributed inside and outside the district that were made without food safety controls, which were transported and shared in different locations in the province of Buenos Aires, expanding the scope of the outbreak.
Officials issued a statement asking the public to refrain from consuming cured meats, sausages or pork products that do not have an authorized label, in order to break the chain of transmission of the disease.
In addition, control operations were intensified in butcher shops, delicatessens and businesses in the district, under the responsibility of the Bromatology area, while the National Service of Agrifood Health and Quality (SENASA) reinforced inspections in pig breeding establishments to detect the origin of the outbreak.
PARASITOLOGY QUIZ- Test your knowledge
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.
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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.
What preventive measures are available?
• Cook all fresh pork, pork products and meat from wild animals to where all the meats reaches 160° F. The meat should turn from pink to gray.
• Freezing pork at -13° F for at least 10 days will kill the cysts. The exception to this rule is strains of Trichinella found in walrus and bear meat which are cold-resistant and must be cooked as noted above.
• Smoking, salting or drying meat is not effective.