The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-06-24
FACTS ABOUT TR1cH1Nos1s. q
Its cause and Development In tho Human
Body.

In an article on the cause and develop.
ment of trichinosis, Halls journal Of
Health says: The disease is caused by
eating pork in which trichin@ exist and
which has not been sufficiently cooked.
The meat must be subjected to a temper.
ature of at least $50 degrees all through
to kill the parasite. The trachina is
little white worm or "wigg!er," 80 small
that it cannot be seen with the naked eye,
and is supposed to originate in the rat,
though some medical authorities hold
that it is also natural to the hog. How
ever that may be, hogs get the disease
and their flesh becomes filled with these
parasites. So tenacious of life is the
trichine that they live and flourish so
long as the pork is preserved from decom.
position. A ham, for instance, which
has been smoked too hurriedly, and not
subjected to sufficient heat, will pre-.
serve them for months. Other animals
may be impregnated with the disease by
taking into the stomach meat in which
the trichina 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 increasing
study, owing to its rarity in this country,
and the cases now in the hospital are
being carefully watched by medical
experts. There are several kinds OF
tricbin@ known to exist, but the partic-
ular parasite in question is usunlly found
coiled like snake; hence its full name
of trichiDa spiralis. There are male and
female of these, and the young are born
alive, not being hatched from eggs, as is
the case with most parasites.
The trichina being takea-into the
human stomach in insufficiently cooked
pork, the meat is digested, leaving the
parasites at liberty. They then grew
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 til
chime 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 bcdy. 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
compelled to hold that organ in one po.
position to escape pain. They fill tile
muscles of the arms and legs until the
least tension or movement causes torture,
and the patient lies with legs and arms
drawn up 10 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 tissues 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
stomache or intestiDes irritation and in
fammation follow. causing the vomiting
and purging, and this continues, accom-
panied by intense pain in the abdomen,
as 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 solution of carbolic acid
in glycerine, given in capsules is consid-
cred successful remedy at this stage of
the disease. The trichina 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 medical 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 trichina dies, and o little
capsule forms about it, much like co.
coon about caterpillar. This is at first
q soft, membrsnous sack, but afterward
changes to chalky cyst. Doctors
sometimes find these cysts while dissect.
lug subject, showing that the persons
had trichinosis and recovered.
North Carolina's Giant.
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