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A new study shows that pig farmers
are at a 50-fold higher risk to become infected with parasitic tapeworms,
often found in pigs, which are known to cause adverse health effects.
The parasites in question are two different tapeworms
of the echinococcus species, including E. multilocularis and E. granulosus,
which can usually grow to a length of 8 mm.
Although more often found in animals, if humans
swallow the parasite eggs, the resulting larvae can sometimes penetrate
the intestines and settle in the lungs, liver, or brain causing large
cysts.
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Austrian researchers tested 152 pig farmers
(avg. age 42 years) and 50 subjects who had not been exposed to
farm animals (avg. age 41 years) for serum antibodies against a
variety of viral, bacterial, and parasitic agents often found in
farm animals.
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All subjects lived in the same province of
Austria.
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Researchers compared their results to those
of a similar study involving 137 veterinarians from the exact same
Austrian province.
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Ten of the 152 farmers
(6.6 percent) had serum antibodies against the parasites,
as compared with none of the 50 unexposed subjects and none of the
137 veterinarians.
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A thorough examinations of the 10 positive-testing
farmers revealed liver cysts in 3 of them (2.0 percent of the
overall group of 152 farmers).
The authors therefore calculated that the
rate of infection in these pig farmers (2%) was 50 times higher than the
rate in the general Austrian population (in which it is 0.04 percent).
The authors suggest that a screening program be
established for the detection of echinococcal parasitic infections in
pig farmers.
New England Journal of Medicine
September 7, 2000; 343: 738-9.
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