Studies on Trichinosis: XV. Summary of the Findings of Trichinella spiralis in a Random Sampling and Other Samplings of the Population of the United States

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Abstract
The survey was based on the examination of diaphragm muscle taken from routine necropsies of persons over 1 yr. of age without regard to clinical or anatomical diagnosis. Direct microscopic and the digestion-Baermann methods were employed in diagnosis; both permitting a considerable percentage of positive cases to pass unrecognized. A generalization that 1 in every 6 persons in the U. S. harbors Trichinella spiralis is made. Several series of source material were concerned in the report: base series consisting of diaphragms furnished by 16 government hospitals; negative series including specimens from states in which clinical diagnosis of trichinosis was never reported; traumatic series from cases of sudden death; random series selected from hospitals chosen on a chance basis; rural series from persons who had resided on farms or in villages of 1,000 population or less; state series from the states of Washington and Oregon; and a Jewish series which was included with a view of demonstrating the degree of protection furnished by the Mosaic code. Of a total number of 5,313 examinations from 37 states and the District of Columbia, 16.7% were positive for T. spiralis. Of 200 cases in the Jewish series 1 was positive.