ABSTRACT

Trichinellosis is a foodborne disease caused by infection with parasitic worms of the genus Trichinella. Infection results from ingestion of meat harboring the infective larvae of the parasite. For the livestock industry, trichinellosis has been of concern ever since the disease was first linked to the eating of pork. It has long been recognized that trichinellosis is transmitted in two epidemiological cycles, the domestic and the sylvatic, which are quite distinctive but not absolutely distinct from each other. The muscle phase of clinical trichinellosis corresponds to the invasion of muscle tissue by Trichinella larvae shed by intestinal female worms. A clinical history that reveals the prior consumption of raw or undercooked meat is of evident importance in the diagnosis of trichinellosis. The parasite was one of the first helminths to be shown to induce protective immunity, and the ease with which it can be passaged in mice has made it a popular subject for immunological studies.