Contagious: Trichinosis
| About contagion: Contagion and contagiousness refers to how easily the spread of Trichinosis is possible from one person to another. Other words for contagion include "infection", "infectiousness", "transmission" or "transmissability". Contagiousness has nothing to do with genetics or inheriting diseases from parents. For an overview of contagion, see Introduction to Contagion. |
Contagion summary: Infection can only occur by eating raw or undercooked meat containing Trichinella worms.1
Contagion discussion:
When a
human or animal eats meat that contains infective Trichinella cysts,
the acid in the stomach dissolves the hard covering of the cyst and
releases the worms. The worms pass into the small intestine and, in 1-2
days, become mature. After mating, adult females lay eggs. Eggs develop
into immature worms, travel through the arteries, and are transported to
muscles. Within the muscles, the worms curl into a ball and encyst (become
enclosed in a capsule). Infection occurs when these encysted worms are
consumed in meat. 1
Footnotes:
1. excerpt from Trichinosis: DPD
Last revision:
June 13, 2003
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