Trichinæ | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Mar 14, 1878

Trichinæ.

A SERIOUS outburst of trichinosis is stated by the Veterinary Journal to have occurred at Leipsic in Germany. All classes of the community have been attacked by it, and at Stettin alone there were forty-one cases in one week. In America, too, the same journal states that trichinosis is either becoming more prevalent in the United States of America or it is more closely investigated and readily recognized. An outbreak occurred in Indiana in 1874, but only nine people were affected, and three of these perished. One pig was the origin of the outbreak. Its flesh, which had been converted into smoked sausages, and was full of trichinæ, had been eaten in an uncooked state. The Western States, which are the chief pig rearing regions, are much infested by trichinosis; and an examination of the flesh of pigs in South-eastern Indiana proved that from three to sixteen per cent are affected. It is calculated that in the Western States 5,000,000 pigs are killed every winter for the consumption of a large portion of the United States; and if only four per cent of these are trichinosed the total number disposed of for food would be upwards of two hundred thousand. Considering our extensive imports of pigs from Germany and pork from America, it would appear that our immunity from this terrible disease must depend on the fact that we habitually cook our food well.