Six people were diagnosed with trichinosis, a parasitic zoonotic disease, after eating black bear meat skewers in South Dakota, United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed. In a report published this week, and cited by The Guardian, the CDC said that in July 2022, a 29-year-old patient was hospitalized with suspected trichinosis, and the case was reported to the Minnesota department of health. Symptoms included fever, severe muscle pain, periorbital edema, and elevated levels of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell. According to the report, a week before the onset of symptoms, the patient and eight others shared a meal that included meat from a black bear that had been frozen for 45 days before it was grilled and served medium-rare with vegetables that had been cooked with the meat. An investigation into the incident found six cases of trichinosis, including two in people who had only consumed the vegetables. Trichinosis is a parasitic infection caused by the larvae of Trichinella, a type of roundworm. Meat that is contaminated with Trichinella larvae usually comes from carnivorous animals such as bear, wild boar or walrus. Molecular testing revealed that the larvae in the bear meat had been frozen in a household freezer for more than 15 weeks, and were a strain of Trichinella nativa, a species that is resistant to freezing. The CDC warned that adequate cooking is the only reliable way to kill Trichinella parasites, and that infected meat can cross-contaminate other foods. The CDC said that six days before the initial patient’s symptom onset, they and eight extended family members from Arizona, Minnesota, and South Dakota gathered in South Dakota for several days. During the gathering, they ate meat from a black bear that had been harvested by one of the family members in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, in May 2022. According to the report, the meat was “inadvertently served undercooked initially, reportedly because the meat was dark in color and it was difficult for family members to visually assess the doneness”. It added: “After some family members began eating the meat and realized it was undercooked, the meat was cooked further before additional portions were served.” Three of the six symptomatic people, two of whom sought care at least twice before they were offered treatment, were hospitalized. All three were treated for trichinosis with albendazole, a medication used to treat a variety of parasitic worm infections. All six symptomatic people recovered, and the CDC said that the outpatients did not receive specific treatment for trichinosis because their symptoms resolved with supportive care alone. In the US, trichinosis is rarely reported, and most reported cases are linked to eating wild game meat. From January 2016 to December 2022, there were seven outbreaks of trichinosis in the US that were reported to the CDC, including 35 probable and confirmed cases. Bear meat was the suspected or confirmed source of infection for most of those outbreaks, the CDC said. Read Also: Blinken sublinha qualidade de relações diplomáticas entre EUA e Brasil (Portuguese version)