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TRICHINA WORMS 



lymph or bloodvessel rather than into the lumen of the intestine. 

 The larvae are carried in the blood or lymph stream, and are 

 distributed to nearly all parts of the body. They leave the 

 capillaries in the striped muscles and penetrate into the fibers. 

 Although young migrating larvae may accidentally be carried 

 to other tissues, and have even been found in the cerebrospinal 

 fluid and in the mammary glands and milk of a nursing woman, 

 they are apparently incapable of developing in any tissue except 



FIG. 120. Larvae of trichina worms burrowing in human flesh before encyst- 

 ment. From preparation from diaphragm of victim of trichiniasis. X 75. 



voluntary muscle. They may settle in the heart muscle, but 

 degenerate there without continuing their development. The 

 muscles particularly favored by the worms are those of the dia- 

 phragm, ribs, larynx, tongue and eye, which, as noted by Staubli, 

 are among the most active muscles and the muscles with the 

 richest blood supply and largest amount of oxygen. According 

 to Flury trichinae have a high glycogen content, and probably 

 subsist on the glycogen stored in the striped muscles; in fact 

 the abundance of glycogen may account for their location in 

 these muscles. 



