News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-05-27
FACTS ABOUT TRICHIN0sIS.
ITS CAUSE AND DEVELOPMENT EN
THE HUMAN BODY.
A Disease Which is Rare in this Coun4- :
try-ResuIt of Eating Pork Com
fainincr Tr.ichinae (

tanning Trichina.
In an article on the cause and develop
l ment of trichinosis, Halps Journal Of
| Health says The disease 3 caused
by eating pork in which triching exist
and which has not been sufficiently
| cooked. The meat must be subjected
TO temperature of at least $50 degrees
all through to kill the parasite. The
trlchlna Is little white worm or "wig-
| gler, so small that it cannot be seen with
the naked eye, and is supposed to orig
| mate In the rat, though some medical
4 authorities hold that it is also natural
TO the hog. However that may be, hogs
get the disease and their flesh becomes
hlled with these parasites. So tenacious
OF life are the trichine that they live and
flourish so long as the pork is preserved
from decomposition. A ham, for in
stance, which has been smoked too hur-'
riedly and not subjected to a sufficient
heat, will preserve them for months.
Other animals may be impregnated with
the disease by taking into the stomach
meat in which the trichin3 exist, and
it is believed that it is in this way that
it is conveyed from the rat to the hog.
The development of trichinosis in the
human body furnishes an interesting
study, owing to its rarity in this country,
and the cases now in the hospital are
being carefully watched by medical ex-
perts. There are several kinds of trichinB
known to exist, but the particular para
site in question is usually found coiled
like a snake; hence its full name of
trichin@ spiralis. There are male and
female of these, and. the young are born
alive, not being Matched from eggs. as ia
the case with most parasites.
The trichina being taken into the
human stomach in insufficiently cooked
pork, the meat is digested, leaving tho
parasites at liberty. They then grow
rapidly until they attain a length of from
one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch,
and within three or four days begin to
reproduce, each female giving birth to
thousands of young The young trichin@
attain their full growth in about seven
days, after which they bore through the
small intestines in which they are born
and lodge themselves in the nearest
muscles, whence they spread in time to all
the muscles of the body. They find their
way into the small muscles of the ear,
impairing the hearing, or into the muscles
of the eye, until the patient is COM
PEELED to hold that organ in one position
to escape pain. They fill the muscles of
the arms and legs until the least tension
or movement causes torture, and the
patient lies with legs and arms drawn
up to relax the muscles and
lessen the pain. So far no case is known
where they have attacked the muscles of
the heart, but they are frequently found
in the muscular tissue of the lungs, where
they cause bronchitis. The fatal termi-
nation of the disease is usually the result
of bronchitis brought about in this way,
or of the high fever produced by this
army of parasites boring their way through
the muscles of the entire body.
When they begin to propagate In the
stomach or intestines irritation and in
f1ammation follow, causing the vomiting
and purging, and this continues, accom-
panied by intense pain in the abdomen,
so long as they remain there. If taken
in time they may be driven out by pow
erful emetics and purgatives, but this
must be done within a day or two.
Glycerine, or a solution of carbolic acid
in glycerine, given in capsules is consid
cred a successful remedy at this stage Of
the disease. The trichin@ propagate
only in the intestines If not driven out
or destroyed there they soon bore
through into the muscles of the back,
and it is here the first muscular pains are
felt Having once entered the muscles,
they are beyond the reach of medi-
cal skill, and any attempt to destroy
them would be more likely to kill the
patient instead. All that can be done
is to relieve the patient, leaving the
disease to run its course.
After six or eight weeks of this bur-
rowing the trichine dies, and little
capsule forms abont it, unuVll nlNo a GU
coon about caterpillar. This-is at first
a soft, membranous sack, but afterYard
changes to a chalky cyst. Doctors some
times find these cysts while dissecting
a subject, showing that the persons had
k,,o II; opJ