Family Consumes Bear Meat, Inadvertently Ingests Harmful Worms
A relatives' gathering turned into a medical predicament, due to some intestinal parasites. In a recent research, medical professionals from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained how the family contracted trichinellosis from spoiled bear meat that wasn't cooked sufficiently. Several family members fell ill seriously enough to require hospitalization, despite every one eventually making a full recovery.
The unusual epidemic was reported in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report over the weekend.
Experts from the Minnesota Department of Health became aware of the outbreak in July 2022, following a 29-year-old individual's two-time hospitalization due to symptoms such as high fever, severe muscular pain, and swelling around the eyes. Upon his second admission, doctors discovered he had attended a family gathering in South Dakota a week prior to his symptoms – a gathering that featured grilled bear meat obtained from a hunt earlier that May in northern Saskatchewan (canadian black bear hunting is legal nationwide). Doctors later confirmed that the man had contracted an infection from a breed of Trichinella, intestinal roundworms that can inhabit various species, including humans and bears.
Health officials from Arizona, Minnesota, and South Dakota (states where the affected relatives resided) contacted the other attendees of the gathering and retrieved the leftover meat, which tested positive for Trichinella parasites. Clinical investigators, in conjunction with the CDC, identified that six of the eight interviewees contracted trichinellosis from the gathering – two individuals solely from consuming uncooked vegetables served alongside the contaminated meat.
Trichinellosis has historically been linked to raw or undercooked pork, but stricter food safety standards have virtually eliminated these incidents in North America and other developed regions. Nowadays, most cases stem from contaminated wild game meat, with bears being a frequent offender. In fact, it appears that the choice of bear meat facilitated the epidemic's onset.
Officials ascertained that the meat was initially served in a rare state, attributable to the dark hue of the meat, which made it difficult to discern its cooking level from a casual inspection (some of the meat was reheated after guests noticed it was undercooked). Moreover, the specific Trichinella species present in the bear meat – Trichinella nativa – is immune to freezing, unlike the worms typically associated with pork, rendering the family's freezing of the meat for 45 days before serving it rainproof against contamination.
Three of the six family members were admitted to the hospital due to their illness, but thankfully, everyone eventually recovered. Moreover, trichinellosis remains uncommon in the U.S., with a mere 35 cases documented between 2016 and 2022, according to the CDC. Nevertheless, the outbreak serves as an important reminder for wild game hunters and their families, as per health officials.
“Those who consume game meat, especially that acquired in northern environments, should be informed that thermal cooking is the only reliable method to annihilate Trichinella parasites,” the report authors wrote. They added, “This meat should be cooked to a temperature exceeding 165 degrees Fahrenheit and verified using a thermometer, given that the color of meat does not accurately indicate cooking adequacy.”
The health authorities emphasized the importance of proper cooking techniques, advising that game meat, especially from northern environments, should be cooked at a temperature exceeding 165 degrees Fahrenheit to eliminate Trichinella parasites.
In the future, advancements in technology and food science could potentially develop more reliable methods for determining the doneness of meat, ensuring the safety of wild game consumers.
