<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Trichinellosis is a zoonosis caused by ingestion of undercooked raw meat from animals that harbour infectious larvae. In most of the Slovak regions there is ongoing life cycle of circulating trichinellosis in wild carnivores and wild boar population. The outbreak of trichinellosis occured in Rožňava district east Slovakia during spring in 2008. Ten members of farmer’s family and their relatives got ill while processing meat from home-made pig-slaughter for meals and meat products intended for wedding dinner. During the meat processing all of them tasted raw meat. Moreover, another 45 persons were exposed to this infection by eating heat-treated meat products. The most common predominant clinical signs were: myalgias, fever, fatigue, exanthema and periorbital oedema. On the 40th day after infection there were intermediate to high titres of trichinella IgG antibodies detected (10 patients), high levels of eosinophilia (10 patients) with maximum of 6.76 × 109/l (55 %) and profound changes in selected laboratory parameters: decreased levels of total proteins, increased levels of alpha 1-globulin and C reactive protein. Presence of IgG antibodies as well as aforementioned laboratory parameters was important markers of trichinellosis in our study, whereas other laboratory changes (leukocytosis, high levels of activity lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase) were detected only in few hospitalized patients.</p></abstract>

Trichinellosis is a zoonosis caused by ingestion of undercooked raw meat from animals that harbour infectious larvae. In most of the Slovak regions there is ongoing life cycle of circulating trichinellosis in wild carnivores and wild boar population. The outbreak of trichinellosis occured in Rožňava district east Slovakia during spring in 2008. Ten members of farmer’s family and their relatives got ill while processing meat from home-made pig-slaughter for meals and meat products intended for wedding dinner. During the meat processing all of them tasted raw meat. Moreover, another 45 persons were exposed to this infection by eating heat-treated meat products. The most common predominant clinical signs were: myalgias, fever, fatigue, exanthema and periorbital oedema. On the 40th day after infection there were intermediate to high titres of trichinella IgG antibodies detected (10 patients), high levels of eosinophilia (10 patients) with maximum of 6.76 × 109/l (55 %) and profound changes in selected laboratory parameters: decreased levels of total proteins, increased levels of alpha 1-globulin and C reactive protein. Presence of IgG antibodies as well as aforementioned laboratory parameters was important markers of trichinellosis in our study, whereas other laboratory changes (leukocytosis, high levels of activity lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase) were detected only in few hospitalized patients.

Outbreak of trichinellosis in eastern Slovakia

Department of Infectology and Travel Medicine, University Hospital, Rastislavova 43, Košice, Slovak Republic

Parasitological Institute SAS, Hlinkova 3, Košice, Slovak Republic

East Slovakia Institute of Oncology, Rastislavova 43, Košice, Slovak Republic

Helminthologia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Outbreak of trichinellosis in eastern Slovakia"}

Trichinellosis is a zoonosis caused by ingestion of undercooked raw meat from animals that harbour infectious larvae. In most of the Slovak regions there is...

Outbreak of trichinellosis in eastern Slovakia

Published Online: Nov 17, 2009

Page range: 209 - 213

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11687-009-0039-2

© 2009 Institute of Parasitology, SAS, Košice, Slovakia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.