Argentina: Trichinosis outbreak reported in Santa Fe

The Santafesina Food Safety Agency (ASSAL) issued an alert due to a trichinosis outbreak in the town of Acebal, in Santa Fe province.

In recent days, officials have reported 39 cases of the parasitic disease.

The outbreak at a commercial premises located at Pellegrini was linked to the acquisition of tainted pork products. For this reason, local authorities are working to find the source of infection and stop the spread of the disease. They recommend that the population “not consume products or by-products from raw or poorly cooked pork, that come from unsafe and/or unlabeled preparations.”

Image/Robert Herriman

In 2023, Argentina experienced 18 outbreaks of trichinosis, with 528 cases associated and reported by the Ministry of Health through November of last year. These outbreaks were recorded in the provinces of Córdoba, Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Neuquén, San Luis and Santa Fe.

Trichinosis is a parasitic disease caused most commonly by the roundworm Trichinella spiralis. If someone ingests undercooked or raw meat with the encysted larvae, the stomach acid releases the larvae which mature to adults in the intestine.

After about a week the female starts releasing larvae which enter the bloodstream and find their way to skeletal muscle where they encapsulate.

There can be gastrointestinal symptoms mimicking acute food poisoning when there is activity of the adults in the intestine.

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Sudden appearance of fever, muscle soreness and pain with swelling of parts of the face is early classic signs. This can sometimes be followed by retinal hemorrhages and other ocular signs.

With heavy infections cardiac, respiratory and neurological problems may ensue with death by heart failure being most common. The more larvae you ingest, the more serious the disease.

What preventive measures are available?

• Cook all fresh pork, pork products and meat from wild animals to where all the meats reaches 160° F. The meat should turn from pink to gray.
• Freezing pork at -13° F for at least 10 days will kill the cysts. The exception to this rule is strains of Trichinella found in walrus and bear meat which are cold-resistant and must be cooked as noted above.
• Smoking, salting or drying meat is not effective.