The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1867-05-10

TRICHINIAsIs.

DR.. Edwin Hitchcock of Amherst college
has examined portion of the muscle taken
from the body of Miss Ida Hall, who died in
Springfiel and found the trichine in it in
large numbers. He fully agrees with the
most of the resident physicians that the
young lady's death was caused by the ter
rible trichiniasis, and furnished the follow
ing interesting ane descriptive account OF
it,
The disease known as trichiniasis is caus-
ed by the presence of a minute parasite in
Testing the voluntary muscles. The name
of this animal is trichina spiralis, and in its
popular acceptation may be called 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, 1885, and been
subsequently studied infinitely by Drs. Bow
ditch and Wyman of Boston, aud Dr. Dalton
of New York. The animals which the
| trichina most commonly infests are man and
the common hog, though it has been found
in other domestic animals. 1t is however
most commonly introduced into the human
system by using some preparation of pork
as an article of food. 1t probably can be in
troduced only through the intestines, and
not by the skin. Its tenacity of life, like
that of the lower animal, is not little re-
markable, since it withstands heat to the
amount of 159 Fahrenheit, and is not killed
L by temperature of 13 degrees below zero.
Various chemical substances, even those
which are partially decompose the muscle, in
Icluding common salt, are not injurious to it,
and smoking Of hams does not destroy it
l'Trchiniasis has never prevailed extensively
| in this country, but has been well known in
Northern Germany and Prussia, and some
what in France. And in those countries
where sausage and hams are common arti-
c,es OF. diet, and especially when eaten un-
cooked, this disease is well known. So that
it is safe to say that if any person will eat
ham, sausage or any portion of the hog in a
raw or partially cooked condition, he runs a
greatrisk of inAiction upon him of this very
Iuncom fortable disease. r
| The trichina when it arrives at lis adult
Tor, perfect state, surrounds itself with cyst or
sac, in which it remains indefinitely, when,
if chance favors its entrance into the stom-
ach of another animal, it commences anew
its cycle of development, otherwise it per-
Ishes. 1t is necessary, then for the devel-
lopmento of the trichina, that it be ingested
into the stomach of another animal from
which it bores through the stomach and ul-
ltimately reaches its destination, the muscle
Iof the body. Each trichina is capable of
producing from 400 TO 1000 young. After
1.-THE trichinous food has been eaten, in the
course of week the youn are batched and
commenced seeking their "habitat" in the
muscles. H.ga
i As already mentioned, these animals
when in their perfect state, become encyst.
ed, or lodged in a little bladder. If they
pass to this condition without destroying the
} Individual in whom they live, the "hO.t'
/, may recover from the disease. In the case
f lof Miss Ida Hall none Of them, so far as as
certained, and passed to this stage of the
, disease, but had destroyed her life in the
, learlier stages of It. Some authors state thai
as many as 1900 trichinB have been discov-
, ered in the space of square inch, one fiftieth
!; of an inch thick. But probably in this case
from Springfield the number scarcley ex'
: ceeded one half that number. There are two
} stages of this disease when it runs regulal
! course. First one of intense pain in The
stomach and bowels, and second that of The
muscular irritation. The first is probably
J lowing to the passage of the parasite uPor
J and through the coat of the intestine and the
!. latter due to the vermicular motion through
; lfibres of the muscles, In the first stase:
} within week or ten days a ter the ingestior
: of the food, the symptoms may be very mucl
: like those of cholerine.-There is pain, sick
| ness of the stomach, vomiting, diarrhes, fetiC
J breath, heartburn, DC, or the symptoms lik,
Ia severe collie or bowel difficulty. In the
second stages there is a swelling or puffnes;
of especially about the eyes, and some
times it extends to the throat and vocal pass
, lage, so that it produces a bnarseness Of thu
. voice. A great fever heat RACES, and th'
pulse is accelerated to l34, and respiration
/. from 30 to S. Violent perspiration is alsC
f a symptom of this stage. But the mos
, marked features are seen in the uncleus
2 which became swollen, hard and painful, thC
l patient suffering agony upon any pressur
or attemptto move the limbs, and lying gen
> erally upoa, the back, Death may occu
) from paralysis or typhoidal symptoms.
The lesson to be learned by every body j
2 I-don't eat pork of any kind unless it is thor
oltghly cooked.