Aspects of clinical features, diagnosis, notification and tracing back referring to Trichinella outbreaks in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 1998

52 cases of human trichinellosis were notified from 11 towns in North Rhine -Westphalia from November 1998 to March 1999. After non-typical symptoms in the enteral phase, fever, muscular ache, headache, oedema, disorder of vis ion and rash occurred in the parenteral phase. Trichinellosis was serologic ally confirmed by ELISA, IFAT or western blot. Raw sausage and minced meat produced from raw pork could be determined as probable source of infection with 44 and eight notified cases, respectively. Whereas questionable raw sa usage was not available for examination, frozen minced meat from the second outbreak could be secured in households of infected people. Larvae were is olated from minced meat and were identified by PCR as Trichinella spiralis. Tracing back to the source of infection was difficult because of the long time between clinical symptoms, laboratory diagnosis and notification as we ll as complex trade routes for pork and its products. Trichinella cases emp hasize the necessity to meet the prescribed slaughter inspection and to gua rantee a reliable prove of origin for meat products especially in view of s pecific consumer habits, i.e. the consumption of raw meat.