TRICHINOSIS - 673 



free in the bowel. They rapidly develop into male and female 

 parasites. These become sexually mature, and the female soon 

 becomes impregnated with eggs, which hatch in her body and are 

 set free in the intestinal canal of the hog. They at once burrow 

 through the wall of the bowel and enter the blood- and lymph- 

 vessels, by which they are carried to all parts of the body and locate 

 in the muscles. The muscles of the jaws are especially favorite 

 locations for the parasite. In these muscles they become lodged, 

 and by a deposit of fibrous tissue a cyst is formed around them. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms of this condition are divided into 

 two stages. First are the symptoms produced during the stage of 

 invasion or while the trichinae are still in the intestines. During this 

 period they produce irritation of the bowel and may cause diarrhea, 

 loss of appetite, and loss of condition. After the young parasites 

 are hatched out and migrate from the intestine into the muscular 

 tissues the bowel symptoms clear up, and the irritation produced 

 in the muscles often gives a close resemblance to muscular rheu- 

 matism. 



Symptoms in Man.— In man the symptoms following eating of 

 trichina-infested meat are much the same as in the hog. For the 

 first few days there are digestive disturbances. The man may com- 

 plain of diarrhea, loss of appetite, colicky pains in the region of the 

 stomach and bowels, and there may be some feverishness. A few 

 days later, when the young brood has been turned loose into the 

 intestines, and has wandered off into the muscle-tissue, the symp- 

 toms resemble those of rheumatism. There is muscular pain, fever, 

 restlessness, inability to perform the usual amount of work, and the 

 condition often becomes severe and may prove even fatal. 



Treatment. — There is no treatment that is of any value after 

 the parasites become encysted in the muscles of the body. Preven- 

 tion is the big word in the handling of the trichina infection. Offal 

 at country slaughter houses and on the farms should be tanked or 

 destroyed by burning, and not be left exposed for rats to feed upon. 

 Dead hog carcasses or offal after butchering should not be thrown 

 into the hog lots for the hogs to eat. If these two precautions are 

 carefully followed, there will be a marked decrease in the amount of 

 trichina infection in hogs. 



During the time that the parasites are in the intestine, and while 



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