Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1867-04-10
TrichiniaSiS.

lr1cnlnl1S1S.
Attention has been recently called anew
to this disease by the of Miss Ida Hall,
who died from the disease last week in
Suringfeld, Mass DIR. Hitchcock of Am
herst College examined portions of the mus
Gle taken from the body after death, and
found trichina in large numbers. He fur
nishes the following descriptive account of
the disease
The disease known as trIchiniasis is caus-
ed bv the presence of minute parasite in
testing the voluntary muscles The name of
this animal is trichina spiralis, and in its
popular acceptation may be called a minute
worm, somewhat like the common vinegar eel.
This animal was first made known to the
world by Prof Richard Owen of the British
Museum, London, in 1885, and has been sub
seouently studied minutely by Drs. Bowditch
and Wvman of Boston, and DR.. Dalton of
New York. The animals which the trichlna
most commonly infests are man and the COM
mon hog, though it has been found in other
domestic animals. 1t is, however, most
commonly introduced into the human system
bv using some preparation of pork as an
ticlc of food. 1t probably can be introduc-
ID ONLY through the intestines, and not by
the skin. Its tenacity of life, like that OF
some of the lower animals, is not a little re-
markable. since it withstands a great amount
IF heat 1t readily withstands heat to the
mount of 100 Fahrenheit, and is not killed
| bv a temperature l3 degrees below zero. Va
| rious chemical substances, even those which
partially decompose the muscle, including
| common salt, are not injurious to it, and
! smoking of hams does not destroy it Trich-
iniasis has never prevailed extensively in this
country, but has been well known in north
ern Germany and Prussia, and somewhat in
France. And in those countries where sau-
| sages and hams are common articles OF diet,
and especially when eaten uncooked, this
disease is well known. So that 1t is safe to
saw that if a person will eat ham, sausages
or any portion of the meat of the hog IN
raw or partially cooked condition. he runs a
great risk of infiicting upon himself this
very uncomfortable disease
The trichina, when it arrives at its adult
or perfect state, surrounds itself with cyst
or sac in which it remains indefinitely,
when. if chance favors its entrance into the
stomach of another animal, it commences
anew its cvcle of development, otherwise it
perishes 1t is necessary, then, for the de-
' velopment of the rrichina, that it be INCEST
ed into the stomach of another animal, from
: which il bores through the stomach and bow
els and ultimately reaches its destination.
the muscles of the body. Each trichina is
capable of producing from 400 to 1000
: Young. After the trichinous food has been
p, eaten. in the course of a week the young are
hatched and commence seeking their '' habi-
tat : in the muscles
: As already mentioned, these animals.
: when in their perfect state, become encysted
or lodged in the little bladder. If they pass
IS To this condition without destroying the in
e dividual in whom they live, the '' host =
I, NAV recover from the disease. In the case
/ of Miss Ida Hall none of them, SO far as as
1t certained. had passed to this stage of the
n b,,+I bod borl life N the
'e lier stages of it. Some authors state that as
r MANY as 700 triehina have been discovered
-e in the space of a square inch, one-fiftieth of
e an inch thick. But probably in this case
! from Springfield the number scarcely exceed
= ed one-half that number. There are two
stages of this disease when it runs regular
d course First one of intense pain in the
S stomach and bowels, and second, that of
S muscular irritation The first is probably
10 owing TO the passage of the parasite upon
and through the coats of the intestine, and
VI the latter due to the vermicular motion
= through the fibres of the muscles. In the
he first stage within a week or ten days alter
L. the ingestion of the food, the symptoms may
be very much like those of cholerinc. There
? is pain sickness of the stomach. vomiting,
o diarrhea, fetid breath, heartburn, ETC., or
is the symptoms like n severe collie or bowel
rift difficulty. In the second stage there is a
swelling or pufiness of the face, especially
~ about the eyes, and sometimes it extends to
M the throat and vocal passage, SO that it pro-
or duces hoarseness of the voice. A great te-
he yer heat RACES, and the pulse is accelerated
=, / to l34 and respiration from thirty to thirty
~ ,' six Violent perspiration is also a symptom
liy of this stage. But the most marked features
is are seen in the muscles, which become swoll
,es en-, hard and painful, the patient suffering
-, agony upon any pressure or attempt to NOV
!. the limbs, and lying generally upon th'
alxysIa N
ion typhoidal symptoms.
NY The Springfield Republican says
Wa The lessons to be drawn from the cases O
res trchniasis in this city is summed up in thes
cy. four words don't eat ham. While au
&C. thOrities differ in many other things -it
- regard to this new and ugly disease, all agre
'H' that if ham and pork thoroughly cooked
ar there is no danger eating either. Some
my times the disease has been communicated b
nee eating imperfectly cured g dried beef" bu
o+ here, too. all danger disappears when tn
~ beef is well cooked These, and other fact
ing of especial interest to the medical profession
bile are admirably set forth in a communicable
ent to the New York Medical Record by DR.. Ri,
-, tine of Marion, Ia, who has treated severt
cases. DIR. Ristine sums up the case as fol
ory lows
all l. That symptoms indicating the pre-:
,iye ence of Young trchina in the tissues are ol
ore served as early earlier than the fourt
day after the ingestion of the trichinot
oio meat.
ent, . That cysts are formed early as Il
her twenty-ffth day.
. 8 That, other things being equal, Il
. severity of the symptoms is in direct pr
ave portion to the amount of trIchinous me
nts, eaten.
hat +. That an active cathartc given whi
Ia the worms are still within the intestinal C
~ nal, is effectual to a certain degree in causiI
'o'' their expulsion and mitigating the severii
49, of the disease.
arly 5. That youth offords no immunity fro
oro the effects of the disease.
g. That sailing and smoking do not d
stroy the vitality of the parasite.
snty I. That thorough cooking acoomphshes
Jews object.
dia-
s, a A PROTEST AGAINST INJUDICIoUs EAR
war. RISING. DIR. Hall, in the February numb
os. of his Journal Of Health says % One of I
''o9' very worst economies of time is that filch