Barbecue goers in North Carolina were sickened with parasites after being served bear meat, a new CDC report has confirmed.
In November 2023, 10 unidentified people reported fever, swelling in their faces, and muscle aches about three weeks after the event.
All of the attendees, with the youngest being just 10 years old, reported consuming undercooked bear meat at the event.
Officials from the North Carolina Division of Public Health said that based on the patients’ symptoms, they had been sickened by trichinellosis, a rare parasitic infection occurring just 15 times per year in the US.
Attendees at a barbecue in North Carolina were sickened with a rare parasitic infection after eating undercooked bear meat (stock image)
The above graph shows how long it took for the barbecue attendees to feel symptoms of trichinellosis after consuming the bear meat
Trichinellosis, also called trichinosis, is caused by Trichinella roundworms.
According to the Mayo Clinic, these parasites typically infect bears, cougars, walruses, foxes, wild boars, and domestic pigs.
Humans can contact trichinellosis from consuming immature forms of these worms, called larvae, which are round in raw or undercooked meat from these animals.
Over the course of several weeks, those worms grow within a person’s intestines and produce more larvae that travel through the bloodstream to different parts of the body before burying themselves in muscle tissue.
Because it takes several weeks, many patients don’t experience symptoms right away. According to the CDC’s MMWR report released Thursday, the majority of infected patients took 21 days to start showing symptoms.
The average patient age was 17, with sickened barbecue goers ranging from 10 to 40 years old.
Of the 10 suspected cases, nine patients had facial swelling, six had muscle aches, and four had a fever.
While mild cases tend to get better on their own, serious cases could lead to lung and heart damage. One in 200 patients with severe cases die on average, according to the CDC.
The infection can be treated with anti-parasitic drugs, though these can cost up to $100 per course.
It’s unclear what temperature the contaminated meat was cooked at or where it was harvested, but the CDC advised that cooking game meat to at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit is the only reliable way to kill trichinella parasites.
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