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Trichinosis
is infection with Trichinella spiralis or
related Trichinella species.
Symptoms include initial GI irritation followed by periorbital edema,
muscle pain, fever, and eosinophilia. Diagnosis is clinical and
with serologic tests. Muscle biopsy may be diagnostic but is seldom
necessary. Treatment is with mebendazole or albendazole plus prednisone
if symptoms are severe.
Etiology
and Pathophysiology
Trichinosis occurs worldwide. In addition to the classic agent T.
spiralis, trichinosis can be caused by T. pseudospiralis
, T. nativa
, T. nelsoni, and T. britovi. The life cycle is maintained by animals that are fed (eg, pigs, horses) or eat (eg, bears, foxes, boars) other animals whose striated muscles contain encysted infective larvae (eg, rodents). Humans become infected by eating raw, undercooked, or processed meat from infected animals, most commonly pigs, wild boar, or bear. Larvae undergo excystation in the small bowel, penetrate the mucosa, and become adults in 6 to 8 days. Mature females release living larvae for 4 to 6 wk and then die or are expelled. Newborn larvae migrate through the bloodstream and body but ultimately survive only within striated skeletal muscle cells. Larvae fully encyst in 1 to 2 mo and remain viable for several years as intracellular parasites. Dead larvae eventually are resorbed or calcify. The cycle continues only if encysted larvae are ingested by another carnivore.
Symptoms and Signs
Many infections are asymptomatic or mild. During the 1st wk, nausea, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea may occur. One to 2 wk after infection, systemic symptoms and signs begin: facial or periorbital edema, myalgia, persistent fever, headache, and subconjunctival hemorrhages and petechiae. Eye pain and photophobia often precede myalgia.
Symptoms from muscle invasion may mimic polymyositis. The muscles of respiration, speech, mastication, and swallowing may be painful. Severe dyspnea may occur in heavy infections.
Fever is generally remittent, rising to 39° C or higher, remaining elevated for several days, and then falling gradually. Eosinophilia usually begins when newborn larvae invade tissues, peaks 2 to 4 wk after infection, and gradually declines as the larvae encyst.
In heavy infections, the inflammation may cause cardiac (myocarditis, heart failure, arrhythmia), neurologic (encephalitis, meningitis, visual or auditory disorders, seizures), or pulmonary (pneumonitis, pleurisy) complications. Death may result from myocarditis or encephalitis.
Signs and symptoms gradually improve, and most disappear by about the 3rd mo, when the larvae have become fully encysted in muscle cells and eliminated from other organs and tissues. Vague muscular pains and fatigue may persist for months. Recurrent infections with T.
nativa can cause chronic diarrhea.
Diagnosis
No specific tests to diagnose the intestinal stage are available. After the 2nd wk of infection, a muscle biopsy may disclose larvae and cysts but is seldom necessary. Diffuse inflammation in muscle tissue indicates recent infection.
Serologic tests are performed for those with suspected infection. Because results may be falsely negative, especially if done within the first 2 to 3 wk of infection, tests should be repeated after 1 mo. Because antibodies may persist for years, serologic tests are of most value if they are initially negative and then turn positive. Serology and muscle biopsy are complementary tests: either one can be negative in a given patient. Skin testing with larval antigens is unreliable.
Muscle enzymes (creatine phosphokinase and LDH) are elevated in 50% of patients and correlate with abnormal electromyograms.
Trichinosis must be differentiated from acute rheumatic fever, acute arthritis, angioedema, and myositis; febrile illnesses such as TB, typhoid fever, sepsis, and undulant fever; pneumonitis; the neurologic manifestations of meningitis, encephalitis, and poliomyelitis; and eosinophilia from Hodgkin lymphoma, eosinophilic leukemia, polyarteritis nodosa, and disease caused by other migrating nematodes.
Treatment
and Prevention
Anthelmintics, mebendazole (200 to 400 mg po tid for 3 days, then 400 to 500 mg tid for 10 days) or albendazole (400 mg bid for 8 to 14 days), eliminate adult worms from the GI tract, but probably have little effect on encysted larvae.
Analgesics (eg, NSAIDs or opioids) may be required for muscle pains. For severe allergic manifestations or myocardial or CNS involvement, prednisone 20 to 60 mg po once/day is given for 3 or 4 days then tapered over 10 to 14 days.
Trichinosis is prevented by cooking meat thoroughly until brown (71° C [160° F] throughout). Larvae can usually be killed by freezing the meat at −17° C (5° F) for 3 wk or −30° C (−20° F) for 6 days, but T. nativa is relatively resistant. Smoking or salting meat does not reliably kill larvae. Domestic swine should not be fed uncooked meat products.
Last full review/revision November 2005
Content last modified November 2005
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