The Ministry of Health of the province of Santa Fe seeks to strengthen the measures of trichinosis prevention before the outbreaks that appeared in the territory.
The Santa Fe agency indicated that the main source of transmission of trichinosis are the products of Pork meat and its processed derivatives that have not passed through the corresponding controls. “That is why each person who buys food should try to identify its source (know where they are going to buy it and how it was made).”
The southern zone provincial epidemiology coordinator, Florencia Galatti, explained that since “the beginning of the year, there has been a increase in the number of suspected cases of trichinosis in three towns in the south of the province. So far there are 26 suspected cases and eight confirmed, of which four belong to Granadero Baigorria, three to San Lorenzo and one to Rufino,” he explained.
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The official added that “Patients are doing well. Those confirmed received timely medical treatment and are under clinical controls,” he said.
Regarding the controls carried out by the Santa Fe Food Safety Agency (Assal), Galatti pointed out that, from this notification, both the agency and the Ministry of Production, Science and Technology and the National Health Service were notified. and Agri-Food Quality (Senasa) “so that they go to the localities and begin with the audits in the businesses and shops where the product was identified.”
“The recommendations for the general population is do not buy homemade products on the side of the route or roads, that it is not known where it comes from or how that product is made. Each person who buys some food should try to identify its source (know where they are going to buy it and how it was made)”, concluded Galatti.
What is trichinosis
It is a zoonotic disease that is transmitted from animal to man produced by larvae of parasites of the genus Trichinella spp. This parasite lodges in the muscles of animals and, in our country, it occurs most commonly in domestic pigs and some other wild species, such as wild boars and pumas.
The parasite cycle in general develops in pigs raised in inadequate hygienic-sanitary conditions: fed from raw meat remains and/or garbage, lack of rodent control and failure to control dead animals, residues and access to garbage dumps.
The parasite enters the pig when it consumes these remains of meat or infected animals, lodges in its muscles and then infects humans when they consume products and by-products (raw or insufficiently cooked) made from pigs with encysted larvae and slaughtered without veterinary inspection. .
The larvae are not visible to the naked eye. and they do not alter the external characteristics such as the color and flavor of the meat or its derivatives and, in general, they do not produce easily detectable visible signs or symptoms in live pigs.
Of primary importance are animals that are slaughtered at home and the “homemade” dry sausages that are made from them.
symptoms of trichinosis
may appear between 5 and 60 days following consumption of the contaminated food, the most frequent being muscle pain, edema (swelling) of the eyelids and fever. Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. In mild cases, it can be confused with a flu picture.
The Santa Fe Ministry of Health clarifies that pigs have no visible clinical signs or of easy detection that allow to identify those infected animals.
LM / ds
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