TRICHINOSIS — SCHWARTZ 415 



Leuckart, Wood expressed the opinion that the presence of the 

 trichinae might have been related to the rheumatic and inflammatory 

 condition of the patient. It was not until 1860, however, that 

 trichinae were definitely recognized as pathogenic. This came about 

 as follows : 



On January 27, 1860, a 20-year-old girl died in the municipal 

 hospital of Dresden, Germany, the suspected cause of death being 

 typhoid fever. On microscopic examination of the girl's muscles, 

 Zenker (7) found numerous trichina larvae in various stages of 

 development, including larvae that had apparently invaded the mus- 

 cles recently. However, Zenker failed to find the usual pathological 

 picture of typhoid fever in the course of this necropsy. On investi- 

 gating this matter further, Zenker determined that, 38 days before 

 her death, the girl had eaten sausage and ham prepared from a hog 

 that had been slaughtered on a farm where she had been a servant. 

 Others who had partaken of this pork also became ill and Zenker was 

 able to demonstrate numerous trichinae in the remaining portions of 

 the meat that were still available. Later Zenker demonstrated 

 trichinae in the girl's intestines that had been preserved in cold 

 storage. With material obtained from the girl's muscles, Zenker, 

 Virchow, and Leuckart worked out the essential facts in the life 

 history of trichinae. Leuckart (8) experimentally infected a hog 

 with trichinous meat and, several days later, he observed symptoms 

 suggestive of an intestinal infection, and fever. The symptoms 

 gradually increased in severity and became complicated by the 

 appearance of muscular stiffness, the animal in question being hardly 

 able to move 4 weeks following experimental infection. On post- 

 mortem examination, 5 weeks after the beginning of the experiment, 

 Leuckart demonstrated unencysted trichinae in the muscles of the 



pig- 

 On the heels of these important discoveries concerning trichinae 

 and their mode of transmission, serious epidemics of tricliinosis came 

 to light in Germany. In 1862 there occurred in the town of 

 Hettstadt a massive epidemic of trichinosis with a mortality of 16 

 percent, due to the consumption of raw pork. Two years later, 337 

 individuals in a small town in Saxony, having a total population of 

 2,000, developed trichinosis and, of those that became so affected, 

 101 died. These two epidemics forcefully demonstrated the role of 

 uncooked, trichina-infested pork in the transmission of a serious 

 disease to human beings. 



LIFE HISTORY OF TRICHINAE 



Knowledge of the life cycle of TrichineUa spiralis is the result of 

 scientific investigations carried out by various parisitologists and 



