HEALTH AND DISEASE 32 1 



suffering of those stricken as well as the untimely death of the youngest 

 member of the family could have been avoided, if the sausage in question 

 had been cooked, as shown by the experience of one of X's daughters, who 

 apparently did not share her family's fondness for semi-raw pork. The case 

 history of the boy who succumbed to trichinosis illustrates that this disease 

 may be confused with other febrile diseases, such as food poisoning and 

 meningitis. Trichinosis is commonly confused with typhoid fever and oc- 

 casionally with undulant fever. 



Another outbreak which occurred late in October of last year involved 

 forty-four persons in one of the New England states. Fortunately all these 

 cases were moderate or mild. The infection was traced to a meal of under- 

 cooked pork loin of which all the persons who later became ill partook. 

 The diagnosis in these cases was established on the basis of clinical 

 symptoms. 



Still another outbreak occurred late in the summer in Rochester, New 

 York, and came about as follows: A social organization of that city held a 

 picnic which was attended by about 200 members. The food served was 

 of the customary picnic variety, including pork sausage, which was cooked 

 hurriedly and avidly consumed by the picnickers, following several hours 

 of exercise in the open. The resultant casualties were as follows: Stricken 

 with trichinosis, 85; succumbed to the disease, i. Aside from the fatal case, 

 only a few individuals developed sufficiently severe symptoms to warrant 

 hospitalization; most of those stricken escaped with rather mild symptoms 

 and were treated in their homes. An article regarding this outbreak, pub- 

 lished in the bulletin of the Health Bureau of Rochester, New York, con- 

 tains the following significant statement: "All this suffering could have 

 been so easily prevented, if only the pork had been thoroughly cooked." 



The total number of cases involved in the three outbreaks is 167, with 

 two deaths. In addition to these cases, there occurred during the year a 

 number of more or less isolated cases in various parts of the country which 

 probably will bring the total number of reported cases of the year up to 

 about 250. 



In the absence of an economically practical method of inspection of 

 pork to detect infected carcasses and in the absence of a practical system 

 of rendering fresh pork and ordinary varieties of cured pork safe for con- 

 sumption before the meat is released for sale, the consumer should protect 

 himself by cooking all pork thoroughly, unless he has definite assurance 

 that a particular processed pork product intended to be eaten without cook- 

 ing was prepared with this in mind in a meat-packing establishment operat- 

 ing under federal inspection or competent state or local inspection. When- 

 ever any doubt exists as to whether a particular product may be eaten 

 without cooking, it should be cooked thoroughly. 



Under federal meat inspection, all products containing pork muscle 

 tissue that are to be sold as cooked products are heated or cooked under 



