Trichinellosis in hospitalized patients from Western Romania: A retrospective study

Abstract

Trichinellosis is a public health problem and an economic issue in porcine animal production and food safety. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the current epidemiologic, laboratory, clinical and therapeutic aspects of human trichinellosis in Western Romania. We retrospectively investigated the medical records of patients hospitalized in infectious diseases hospitals from three counties in Western Romania, between January 1st, 2012 and December 31st, 2016. A total of 83 patients diagnosed with trichinellosis were included in the study. Pork meat was the food source of infection in 76 (91.6%) patients and wild boar meat in 4 (4.8%). Patients were aged between 2 and 78 years; 48 (57.8%) were males and 27 (32.5%) came from an urban area. The most frequent symptoms included myalgia in 66 (79.5%) patients, fever in 55 (66.3%), eyelid edema in 40 (48.2%) and asthenia in 35 (42.2%). Two patients died and the others had favorable outcome. Although the number of reported cases has decreased in the past years, trichinellosis remains an important public health problem in Western Romania. Educational programs for both swine breeders and consumers are imperative, and implementation of strict hygienic measures aimed to control infection transmission are strongly recommended.

Epidemiological perspective associated with principal risk factors of Trichinella spiralis infection in pigs and humans in Egypt

“…In contrast, a significant correlation between T. spiralis seroprevalence and patients' age was reported in the present study that the highest rate of Trichinella infection was recorded in the age group of 45<55 years (21.05%) followed by 55<65 years old group (11.76%). Similar findings were obtained by other studies [28,36,38], which revealed that the seroprevalence of Trichinella antibodies increased by age. On the other hand, Addo et al [39] found no variance in the positivity according to age.…”

Retrospective Survey of Human Trichinellosis in a Romanian Infectious Diseases Hospital over a Thirty-Year Interval—The Never-Ending Story

“…The length of hospitalization might be used as an indirect measure of disease severity. In the present study, the mean duration of hospitalization was 8.46 days, close to that reported by Lupu et al [ 28 ], at 7.5 days.…”

“…The disease incubation period ranges from 7 to 30 days, related to the number of larvae ingested, which, in turn, usually determines the severity of disease [ 20 ]. The average incubation period during the present study, 16.43 days, was longer than reported in a case series from Western Romania, which was of 7.6 days, with 81.9% of patients presenting clinical symptoms within the first 10 days postinfection [ 28 ].…”

“…In one patient, with an eosinophil level of 84/μL, CNS manifestations were described, while in the pregnant woman having 100 eosinophils/μL, all three considered complications were present. Hyperleucocytosis was present in 27.38% of the admitted patients, while in the study on 83 patients from western Romania, 51.8% had high levels of white blood cells (more than 10,000/mm 3 ) [ 28 ]. Hyperleucocytosis with values up to 41,200/μL, as seen in our patients, may alert the physician for differential diagnosis with leukemoid reactions [ 29 ].…”

Investigation of the Food-Transmitted Parasites Trichinella spp. and Alaria spp. in Wild Boars in Greece by Classical and Molecular Methods and Development of a Novel Real-Time PCR for Alaria spp. Detection

“…Humans trichinellosis may remain asymptomatic; however, clinical manifestations often include an initial phase of nonspecific symptoms, e.g., headache, malaise, fever, and gastrointestinal disorders (epigastric pain, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting) and a subsequent phase characterized by myalgia, arthralgia, dyspnoea, as well as some characteristic, but not always present, lesions, i.e., periorbital or facial edema and subungual petechiae. Severe complications such as myocarditis and encephalitis can also occur and may lead to death [7,40]. Despite the reduction of cases numbers in the past 10 years, human trichinellosis is still reported in Europe.…”