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CONSERVATION CORNER
(For the week of December 10, 2007)
Bear Tartar Is A No No!
with James L. Cummins

When it comes to medicine, those of us interested in the outdoors need to have a good understanding of medical matters – from hypothermia to how to treat a snake bite or poison ivy or any number of issues.

Here, we will look at one of those issues.

Trichinosis, which is carried by beaver, is caused by eating raw or undercooked meat of animals infected with the roundworm Trichinella spiralis.

According to Dr. William M. McKell, a physician at Singing River Hospital in Ocean Springs, "Infection in the United States was once very common and usually attributed to the ingestion of undercooked pork. With the passage of legislation prohibiting the feeding of raw meat garbage to hogs, commercial or home freezing of pork and public awareness of the dangers of eating raw and undercooked pork products, the number of cases has decreased markedly. Presently, the disease is seen in those who consume raw or undercooked wild game, such as bear, wild hog, cougar and walrus (carnivores – meat eaters and omnivores – everything eaters)."

When one eats meat from an infected animal, trichinella cysts hatch in the intestine and grow into adult roundworms. Their offspring may migrate through the gut wall and into the bloodstream. These parasites may invade muscle tissues (including the heart and diaphragm), lungs and brain.

McKell states that within 1 to 2 days after ingestion, one may develop nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, fever and abdominal discomfort. If untreated, and depending on the worm burden, headaches, chills, cough, eye swelling, muscle and joint aches, heart failure, pneumonia, encephalitis and death may occur.

The diagnosis can be made with blood tests and/or a muscle biopsy. It is of utmost importance that you inform your physician that you have ingested wild game.

Now the good news. Several effective prescription drugs are available to treat trichinosis. As with so many medical problems and diseases, prevention is the key to avoid much misery. So, what can you do? Dr. McKell has several recommendations. They are:
• Cook meat products until the juices run clear (internal temperature of 170 F).
• Freezing wild game animals, unlike freezing pork products, even for lengthy periods, may not effectively kill all worms. This is especially true for arctic animals such as walrus or polar bear.
• Cook all meat products fed to pigs or wild animals.
• Clean meat grinders thoroughly.
• Curing (salting), drying, smoking or the microwaving of meat does not consistently kill these worms.

I love sushi and medium rare steaks, while my mother likes her steak well done, or as I like to say, "ruined." She usually blames any slight illness I may have on not cooking food properly. In some instances, she is right. Cook the appropriate meat properly.