Trichinella spiralis

Is a nematode and the a causative agent of trichinosis. It is sometimes referred to as the "pork worm" due to it being found commonly in pork or rat products that are undercooked. species are the smallest nematode parasite of human.Trichinella spiralis is a parasitic nematode that has a direct life cycle, meaning that it completes all stages of development in one host. The larval forms of T. spinalis are encapsulated as a small cystic structure within the infected host. Human typically become infected when they eat improperly cooked pork or Trichinella infected meat. When a human eats the infected meat, the larvae are released from the nurse cells (due to stomach pH) and migrate to the intestine where they burrow into the intestinal mucosa, mature, and reproduce. Interestingly, juveniles within nurse cells have an anaerobic or facultative anaerobic metabolism but when they become activated adopt an aerobic metabolism characteristics of the adult. Female trichinella worms live for about six weeks and in that time can produce up to 1,500 larvae; where eventually a spent female dies and passes out of the host. The larvae can then gain access to the circulation and migrate around the body of the host. The migration and encystment of larvae can cause fever and pain brought upon by the host inflammatory response. In some cases migration to specific organ tissues can cause myocarditis that can result in death. Treatment usually requires an -azole pharmaceutical, such as mebendazole. It is present worldwide. Most common in parts of Europe and the United States.