Trichinosis
Remember back in 2005...
Ten French hunters who ate meat from a black bear they killed during a trip to Canada are being treated for the parasitic disease trichinellosis and several of them remain in a Paris hospital.
Four other people who ate bear meat after the hunters transported it home to France have also contracted the potentially fatal infection, Dr. Jean Dupouy-Camet of University Hospital in Paris said Wednesday.
The 10 men killed the black bear Aug. 30 during a hunting trip to northern Quebec, barbecuing some of the meat the same day. Two of the men brought back bear meat when they returned to their homes in central and southern France.
Some of the meat was shared with six relatives during a meal in early September; three of the people at that meal subsequently got infected with the parasite, Dr. Dupouy-Camet said. At another meal about a week later at which bear was served, seven more people ingested the infected meat.
As of Wednesday, 14 people who ate Canadian bear were sick with trichinellosis, he said, noting that the hunters first started showing symptoms 10 to 15 days after eating the wild meat. Nine others who ate bear are being monitored.
However, other hunters may also be affected, said Dr. Dupouy-Camet, explaining that the French hunters reported that other groups, possibly from Canada or the United States, were in the area also hunting bear.
Trichinellosis, also known as trichinosis, is caused when a parasite enters the intestinal tract through poorly cooked meat from mammals and some reptiles that prey on other wild animals. The infection is common in bear, wild feline (such as a cougar), fox, dog, wolf, horse, seal and walrus, as well as undercooked pork, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
“In Canada, and quite particularly in northern Canada, it is quite frequent in bears — Arctic bears, black bears — and outbreaks have been reported in Canada amongst Inuits after consumption of bear meat, but also after consumption of walrus,” said Dr. Dupouy-Camet, president of the International Commission on Trichinellosis.
“There is a hunting industry in the north of Canada, and last year I had a single patient with a similar story,” he said, explaining that the man got infected after hunting bear in northern Labrador.
“So it's not infrequent.”
Once inside the intestine, the adult parasites spawn larvae which migrate through the blood to the muscles, where they take up residence.
The parasite can be killed by cooking meat thoroughly. It should never be eaten raw or rare, Dr. Dupouy-Camet said.
Patients suffer from diarrhea, abdominal pain, high fever, facial swelling and severe muscle pain throughout the body.
Treatment with albendazole is aimed at killing parasites in the intestinal tract so they cannot reproduce, but the drug is less effective at destroying worms in the muscles, and they can remain there for years, even decades, until they naturally die off, Dr. Dupouy-Camet said.
Corticosteroids are given to patients to deal with inflammation that can severely affect the heart and brain, leading to possible encephalitis and neurological damage.
“It can be a fatal disease, particularly if you have eaten a lot of infected meat,” he said.
Brent Dickson, a parasitologist for Health Canada, said trichinellosis is prevalent among wild carnivores, especially bears.
“It's something that hunters need to be aware of,” he said from Ottawa. “It does exist in wildlife.”
“Very often what happens is the hunters bring these things home and they feed their families and their friends with this unusual meat. It's sort of a special treat, I guess.
“So if it's not cooked properly, it's a real hazard,” he said, adding that freezing the meat doesn't kill the parasite.
Alain Charette, a spokesman for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said trichinellosis is a reportable disease in farm and wild animals in Canada, but that no cases have been found in farm stock, in particular pigs, since the 1980s.
Cooking time and temperature depends on the parasite and the type of meat, said Mr. Charette, adding that bear meat should reach an internal temperature of 71 C.
