Six people who shared a meal involving black bear meat kebabs have been diagnosed with trichinellosis, a parasitic zoonotic disease. In a new report released this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that in July 2022, a 29-year old hospitalized patient with suspected trichinellosis was reported to the Minnesota health department. His symptoms included fever, severe muscle aches, periorbital edema or eye swelling, and eosinophilia or the condition of elevated levels of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell.
According to the report, a week prior to the symptoms appearing, the patient and eight other people shared a meal that included the meat of a black bear which had been frozen for 45 days before being grilled and served rare with vegetables that had been cooked with the meat. An investigation into the incident found six trichinellosis cases, including two in people who consumed only the vegetables. Trichinellosis is a parasitic infection caused by the larvae of trichinella, a type of roundworm.
Typically, meat contaminated with the trichinella larvae comes from carnivorous animals such as bears, wild boars or walrus. Molecular testing found that larvae from the bear meat had been frozen in a household freezer for more than 15 weeks and that the larvae was trichinella nativa, a freeze-resistant species. The CDC warns that adequate cooking is the only reliable way to kill trichinella parasites and that infected meat can cross-contaminate other.
