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- The CDC is stressing the importance of properly cooking wild animals after six people became ill from a parasitic worm infection linked to undercooked bear meat.
- The affected people contracted trichinosis through the rare supply of contaminated bear meat.
- Trichinellosis is considered rare in the United States and is primarily associated with the ingestion of wild game animals.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reiterated the importance of properly cooking wild animals after six people became ill with a parasitic worm caused by undercooked bear meat served at a family gathering in South Dakota.
Six people (one in South Dakota, four in Minnesota, and one in Arizona) became infected after the bear meat served at Rare was found to be contaminated with the roundworm that causes Trichinosis (also known as trichinosis). Two of them ate only the vegetables that were grilled with the meat. The meat had been frozen for 45 days, but the Trichinosis worm is a freeze-tolerant species.
“People who eat wild meat should be aware that proper cooking is the only sure way to kill the Trichinella parasite and that infected meat can cross-contaminate other foods,” the CDC said in a report on the outbreak last week.
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The first case was identified after the 2022 reunion, a 29-year-old man from Minnesota who had been hospitalized twice with unusual symptoms including fever, muscle pain and swelling around the eyes. Samples of black bear meat caught in Saskatchewan tested positive. Three of the victims were hospitalized. All six, ranging in age from 12 to 62, eventually recovered.
A black bear was spotted near Ketchikan, Alaska, in southeastern Alaska, and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reiterated the importance of properly cooking wild animals after six people became ill with a parasitic worm after undercooked bear meat was served at a family gathering in South Dakota. (Wolfgang Koehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Trichinellosis is a rare disease in the United States. It was once attributed to undercooked pork, but the majority of cases in the United States are now attributable to consumption of wild game meat. From 2016 to 2022, seven outbreaks containing 35 suspected and confirmed cases were reported to CDC. In the majority of these outbreaks, bear meat was suspected or confirmed to be the cause.
The larvae can live in the intestines, muscles, heart and brain tissue, according to the National Institutes of Health. Most patients recover fully within two to six months.
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The CDC recommends checking wild game with a meat thermometer and cooking it to at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Meat color is not a good indicator. The family realized the meat was undercooked and ate it before reheating it, the report said. Raw or undercooked meat and its juices should be stored separately from other foods.
