Symptoms and treatments for trichinosis in pigs

Swine trichinosis is a dangerous disease that is especially common among mammals. Domestic pigs, along with wild animals, are prone to this zoonosis. A person can also become infected with trichinosis.

Content
  1. Pathogens Trichinosis
  2. Symptoms of Trichinosis
  3. Diagnosis of Trichinosis
  4. Treatment and prevention of the disease
  5. Conclusion <

Трихинеллез свиней

Swine trichinosis

This disease has been known since ancient times. Written sources have kept information that its symptoms were found in the Carthaginians in 400 BC. Researchers believe that the ban on the use of pork meat in musu Lyman and Jews are associated with a risk of developing trichinosis. Outbreaks periodically occur in different countries, most often in the USA and Canada. In the post-Soviet space, the disease was diagnosed in Belarus, some regions of Ukraine, certain regions of the Russian Federation, and the Baltic.

Trichinellosis causative agents

The disease is caused by the helminths of Trichinella spiralis belonging to the Trichinellidae family, suborder Trichurata. The causative agents are Trichinella species:

  • Trichinella spiralis;
  • Trichinella pseudospiralis.

Recently, researchers have discovered new types of parasite-free capsule type .

These are round worms of very small sizes: the length of the female is from 3 to 4.5 mm, the male is 1.5 mm, the larvae are only 0.1 mm tall. Trichinella – viviparous helminths. Adults and their offspring penetrate the intestinal wall using the chitin stylet, which is located on the head end.

Worms that have reached puberty parasitize in the wall of the small intestine, then the larvae spread through the body with lymph. In muscle tissue, parasites grow by wrapping themselves in a spiral. By the end of the first month of life, the larva is overgrown with a capsule, after a year the capsule is covered with lime and exists for 25 years.

The larvae in the lime capsules are very resistant to adverse factors. Weak salting of pig meat and traditional smoking does not cause their death. Larvae die completely when the piece of meat is evenly heated above 70 ° C.

Some sources state that long boiling is necessary for the complete destruction of parasites: 1 kilogram of pork must be processed for more than 1.5 hours. Regarding the effect of low temperatures on pathogens, scientists disagreed: some consider it possible to decontaminate meat at a temperature of -15 ° C for 8 days, others insist on the need to lower the temperature to -25 … -50 ° C.

Symptoms of Trichinosis

Pigs can get trichinosis by eating small rodents, raw debris or food debris, the insides of sick animals. Often the disease goes unnoticed. With severe infection on day 3-5, the following symptoms are observed:

  • high fever;
  • diarrhea;
  • vomiting;
  • fast weight loss;
  • muscle pain (pigs lie still, stretched limbs);
  • shallow breathing;
  • swelling.

If the animal has not died, the disease state lasts 1–1.5 months until the larvae form capsules. Then the symptoms of the lesion disappear and the pig looks healthy. The disease becomes chronic. lymphatic or circulatory system, and the symptoms are not always pronounced. The most common methods for recognizing trichinosis are:

  • immunological reactions that detect antibodies in a living animal by the end of the first month of the disease;
  • trichinoscopy;
  • muscle digestion in artificial gastric juice (performed posthumously).

To diagnose trichinosis, samples of the legs of the diaphragm are taken near the tendons. Other striated muscles (such as masticatory) can also be used.

When performing trichinoscopy from muscle samples, 24 sections are made, which are crushed in a copressorium, and then a microscopic examination is performed. So you can identify the disease with moderate or significant degree of damage to the body by parasites.

The method of digesting muscle tissue in artificial gastric juice is more accurate. For the analysis, a sample of infected meat is taken, ground and poured with artificial gastric juice (an aqueous solution containing pepsin and hydrochloric acid). A sample prepared in this way is placed in a thermostat for 4–5 hours, then the liquid is drained, and the sediment is examined under a microscope.

When conducting research, it is necessary to distinguish trichinella larvae from other parasites (for example, sarcocysts, young cysticerci ).

Treatment and prevention of the disease

Treatment of infected animals is not carried out. If trichinella is found in pork, the meat is considered unsuitable for consumption. Veterinarians believe that the degree of development of treatment for trichinosis is insufficient. Well-known drugs that infect helminths in the intestines and non-encapsulated larvae are albendazole, thiabendazole, mebendazole, parbendazole.

Prevention of the disease consists in conducting thorough studies of meat for the presence of trichinella. It is forbidden to feed uninfected kitchen waste, carcasses of animals, offal to pigs.Pigs should not be walked freely, especially near forests.

Carcasses of animals that show symptoms of illness or have trichinella are processed for meat and bone meal or burned. It is forbidden to bury the infected meat of dead pigs, as it can become a source of disease for rodents, carnivores. Farm territories, walking areas are carefully cleaned, deratization is carried out systematically.

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Conclusion

Trichinella-infected pork is the main source of infection for humans.An important part of prevention is to conduct educational work: to explain the degree of danger of trichinosis, ways of infection, diagnostic methods and methods of preventing this disease.

Rules for personal prevention: only meat that has passed sanitary and veterinary control can be eaten. iobretat pork to natural markets, the meat must be subjected to prolonged heat treatment.

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Anna Evans

Author ✓ Farmer

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