How is Trichinosis spread?
The Trichinella parasite is spread between meat-eating animals such pigs, rats, dogs and many wild animals, including foxes, wolves, wild boars and bears. When an animal eats meat containing Trichinella cysts, the larval worms within those cysts are released in the stomach and travel to the intestine where they mature. The adult female worms produce larvae which enter the blood stream and are disseminated throughout the body where they become encapsulated (form cysts) in the muscles. That muscle tissue (or meat) can then become a source of infection for other meat-eating animals. Humans become infected through eating raw or undercooked Trichinella contaminated pork or game animal meat. How can Trichinosis be prevented? The best prevention is properly cooking all meat. The internal temperature of properly cooked meat should reach at least 170 F during cooking. Freezing pork for 10 days at -13 F will also destroy the parasite. Freezing is not reliably effective for wild animal meats. Cur
