A parasite outbreak that left at least 10 people with facial swelling last year was caused by undercooked bear meat served in the mountains of North Carolina, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ten of the 22 participants in the November 2023 incident reported contracting trichinosis (commonly referred to as brainworm), which was contracted through undercooked meat and ate bears.
This is a rare parasitic disease known to cause fever, severe muscle pain, and swelling around the eyes.
“Although trichinella infections remain rare, thousands of bears are harvested in North Carolina each year,” the CDC said.
“A proportion of recent infections have been linked to consumption of wild game meat.”
According to the CDC, meat contaminated with roundworm larvae, which are common in carnivores and omnivores, causes trichinosis.
The larvae “invade the small intestinal mucosa and develop into adults.”
Brain parasites were once more common in the United States, but have sharply declined since hog farming methods improved throughout the second half of the 20th century, according to the USDA.
Officials said eight of the 10 people who reported feeling ill went to hospital with symptoms including “headache, swelling of the eyes and face, nausea and diarrhea.”
The climbing trip took place in Swain County in November, and all of the people with trichinosis lived in Swain, Cherokee and Graham counties, according to a report from the North Carolina Department of Public Health.
The age range of the infected people was from 10 to 40 years old.
In May 2024, six people attending a family gathering contracted trichinosis after eating undercooked bear kebabs.
A similar incident occurred in Canada in 2022, where six more people were confirmed to be infected, but only four Party members had eaten bear meat.
Two of the patients had eaten only vegetables that day, but were cross-contaminated with meat, according to the CDC report.
