Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-06-16
Mistellaueuns &eadiug.
FACTS ABOUT TRICHINOSIS.
ITS CAUSE 4ND DEVELOPMENT IN THE
UUM1N BODY

FACTS ABOUT TRICHINOSIS.
ITS CAUSE md DEVELOPMENT IN THE
HUMAN BODY.
In an article on the cause and develop
ment of trichinosis, HaWs Jommalof Health
says: The disease is caused by eating pork
in which trichina 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
trachina is little white worm or "Wig-
gler,"so 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 para
SITES So tenacious of life is the trichina
that they live and flourish so long as the
pork is preserved from decomposition. A
ham, for instance, which has been smoked
too hurriedly, and net subjected to q suffi-
cient heat, will preserve them for months.
Other animals may be impregnated with
the disease by taking intoth stomach meat
in which the trichinp exist, and it is be-
lieved that it is in this way that it is con-
veyed from the rat to the hog.
The development of trichinosis in the hu-
man body furnishes an increasing study,
owing to its rarity in this country, and the
cases now in the hospital are being careful
ly watched by medical experts. There are
several kinds of trichina known to exist,
but the particular parasite in question is usu-
ally found coiled like a snake; hence its full
name of trichinG spiralis. There are male
and female of these, and the young are born
case with most parasites.
The trichine being taken into the human
stomach in insufficiently cooked pork, the
meat is digested, leaving the 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 trichin9 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 near
est muscles, whence they spread in time to
all the muscles Of the body. They find their
way into the small muscles of the ear, i'm
pairing the hearing, or into the muscles of
the eye, until the patient is compelled 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
they cause bronchitis. The fatal termina-
tion 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 beginto propagate in the stom-
ach or intestines irritation and intamma-
ton follow, causing the vomiting and purg-
ing, and this continues, accompanied by in
tense pain in the abdomen, as long as they
remain there. If taken in time they may
be driven out by powerful emetics and pur-
gatives, but this must be done within day
or two. Glycerine, or solution of carbolic
acid in glycerine, given in capsules is con-
sidered successful remedy at this stage of
the disease. The trichne propagate only
in the intestines. If not driven out or des-
troyed 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 burrow-
ing the trichin,e dies, and little capsule
forms about it, much like cocoon about a
caterpillar. This is at first a soft, membran-
Gus sack, but afterward changes to chalky
cyst. Doctors sometimes find these cysts
while dissecting subject, showing that the
persons had trichinosis and recovered.