Trichinosis historical perspective
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Danitza Lukac
Overview
Trichinella spiralis was first discovered by James Paget, a English first-year medical student, in 1835.[1] In 1846, Joseph Leidy, an American paleontologist, was the first to discover the association between undercooked meat and development of trichinosis. [2] There have been several outbreaks of trichinosis, most of them for consuming infected pork, wild boar and bear. Although now uncommon as a result of public health control measures. [3][4]
Historical Perspective
Trichinella spiralis was first discovered by James Paget, a English first-year medical student, in 1835 while witnessing and autopsy at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. Paget took special interest in the presentation of muscle with white flecks, described as a "sandy diaphragm". Although Paget is most likely the first person to have noticed and recorded these findings, the parasite was named and published in a report by his professor, Richard Owen, who is now credited for the discovery of the T. spiralis larval form. Trichinosis was known as early as 1835 to have been caused by a parasite, but the mechanism of infection was unclear at the time. It was not until a decade later that American scientist Joseph Leidy pinpointed undercooked meat as the primary vector for the parasite, and not until two decades afterwards that this hypothesis was fully accepted by the scientific community. [5]
Outbreaks occur in settings where multiple people consume the same Trichinella infected meat. [6] Although now uncommon as a result of public health control measures, trichinellosis outbreaks have been reported in the United States, Europe, Mexico, Thailand, Canada, Lebanon, and elsewhere. In Israel, the disease is rare because most Jewish and Muslim citizens avoid eating pork. Until 1997, only 6 small outbreaks were reported in humans; they occurred mostly in the Christian Arab population. However, from 1998 to 2004, 10 similar trichinellosis outbreaks involving 200 Thai migrant agricultural workers occurred. The workers all took part in festive meals whose main dish was uninspected wild boar, hunted in the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, near the Lebanese border.[7] During 2008–2012, five outbreaks were reported from four states (Alaska, California, Illinois, and Minnesota), involving 40 persons. Bear meat was implicated in three of the five outbreaks. [8]
References
- ↑ Trichinosis. Wikipedia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis. Accessed on January 22, 2016
- ↑ Joseph Leidy. Wikipedia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Leidy. Accessed on January 22, 2016
- ↑ Marva E, Markovics A, Gdalevich M, Asor N, Sadik C, and Leventhal A. Trichinellosis Outbreak. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005;11(12):1979-1981
- ↑ Wilson N, Hall R, Montgomery S, Jones F. Trichinellosis Surveillance — United States, 2008–2012. MMWR 2005;11(12):1979-1981
- ↑ Trichinosis. Wikipedia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichinosis. Accessed on January 22, 2016
- ↑ Trichinosis. CDC. http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/trichinellosis/epi.html. Accessed on January 22, 2016
- ↑ Marva E, Markovics A, Gdalevich M, Asor N, Sadik C, and Leventhal A. Trichinellosis Outbreak. Emerg Infect Dis. 2005;11(12):1979-1981
- ↑ Trichinellosis Surveillance — United States, 2008–2012. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report- CDC. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6401a1.htm. Accessed on January 22, 2016