James:
It is my understanding that yes, US persons still contract
trichinosis. The reasons are several fold.
Many parts of the world do not get trich because of proscriptions
against eating pork.
Secondly, pork is expensive to produce and therefore expensive to
purchase and this means that only affluent persons (such as US citizens)
can even afford to eat pork.
Third, the US does not inspect pork for the presence of T.
spiralis and thus, we can not export our pork to the rest of the world
(or at least to the majority of nations that do inspect).
But the leading contributory cause of the high T. spiralis
incidence in the US is the small, private slaughter houses that make
venison sausage by grinding in locally slaughter pork with fresh
venison. Right behind this and closely related are immigrants from asian
countries that consume pork that tends to be undercooked at various
"celebrations" .
Good Question.
Steve Kayes
=================================
/\ /\/ /######\ /#######\ ! Stephen G. Kayes, Ph.D. !
/\/ /\/ / / / ! Structural & Cellular Biology !
/\/ /\/ / / / ! University of South Alabama !
/\/ /\/ /######/ /########/ ! Mobile AL 36688 !
/\/ /\/ / / / =================================
\/------\/ / / / Office: (334) 460-6768 NEW AC
/#######/ /#####/ / / FAX: (334) 460-6771
=====================================================================
