Trichinellosis in Hospitalized Children and Adults from Western Romania: A 11-Year Retrospective Study

Abstract

Trichinellosis, a serious and sometimes fatal human disease, is a consequence of consuming raw or improperly cooked meat containing the infective larvae of Trichinella spp. The aim of this observational cohort retrospective study is to compare the epidemiological, laboratory, clinical and therapeutic aspects of trichinellosis in children and adults from Western Romania. We investigated the medical records of patients who were diagnosed with trichinellosis and hospitalized between 17 January 2010 and 31 December 2020. One hundred thirty-three patients were identified according to the electronic databases of infectious disease hospitals, located in four counties from Western Romania. A total of 19 patients (14.28%) were children and 114 patients (85.71%) were adults. In children, the most frequent symptoms were digestive in 78.94%, followed by fever in 57.89%, eyelid or facial edema in 57.89% and myalgia in 52.63% of cases, while adults presented mainly myalgia in 87.71%, followed by fever in 77.19%, digestive symptoms in 68.42% and eyelid or facial edema in 66.66% of cases. The source of infection was pork meat products in the majority of patients (89.47%). Our results revealed a general declining trend in infection rates for both children and adults during the studied period. The vast majority of cases were severe and all required hospitalization. Education of the population along with public health strategies should be improved and maintained to fully prevent trichinellosis in Western Romania.

Trichinella spiralis Infecting Wild Boars in West, Southwest, and Northwest of Romania: Evidence of an Underrated Risk

“…Human trichinellosis continues to represent a public health problem in western Romania. Recent studies conducted in this region have shown that the vast majority of trichinellosis cases were severe and patients required hospitalization [25,26]. It should be noted that the number of reported human trichinellosis cases does not illustrate the actual prevalence of the disease.…”

“…In Europe, the following four species of the genus Trichinella have been isolated from the muscle of S. scrofa: T. spiralis, T. britovi, T. pseudospiralis, and T. nativa [23,24]. Although in Eastern Europe, most outbreaks of human trichinellosis are due to the consumption of native pork [25,26], especially those raised in the traditional system, with a substantial risk of infection, nowadays, outbreaks of trichinellosis episodes are associated with the consumption of game meat, especially S. scrofa [11].…”