In the Pyrénées-Orientales, two hunters developed trichinellosis after eating undercooked wild boar meat in January. This very rare infection takes shape with the development of microscopic worms in the body.
It is a very rare parasitic infection, the number of infected in France has been around thirty cases in the last decade. This infection is transmitted to humans through animals. Trichinellosis is only contracted after eating undercooked or raw meat from an animal. It can be a pig, a horse or a boar.
An infection with irreparable damage to humans
According to the National Food Safety Agency (ANSES) the first symptoms appear within 48 hours after ingestion of the meat. It can be digestive problems like vomiting or diarrhea. But symptoms can also appear two to three weeks after eating the contaminated meat. As a result, you will feel muscle pain or swelling in the eyes. After contracting this disease, the larvae that develop in your body can cause irreparable damage. Indeed, the larvae seek to migrate and develop in the small intestine. Before moving to your muscles and into the blood.
It is necessary to consult a specialist and perform a battery of tests if symptoms appear and persist. Misdiagnosed, trichinellosis can have irreversible and even fatal consequences for humans if a large number of larvae are detected in your body.
Trichinellosis represents “an epidemic risk”
According to the Ministry of Health, this disease should be considered epidemic despite the extremely rare cases on French territory. The best way to avoid contamination with this parasitic infection is to eat meat that is sufficiently cooked, that is to say at 71 ° C (gray meat in the middle). There is no need to freeze the meat, the larvae in the animal can survive extremely cold temperatures. Trichinellosis must be declared to the health authorities, it is considered a “collective food poisoning” (TIAC). This will initially make it possible to prevent a possible spread of this infection but also to identify the cases in the territory.
