An Epidemic of Trichinosis after Ingestion of Wild Pig in Hawaii

Forty-five percent of young adults who ate roast wild pig at a barbecue in Hawaii experienced an illness compatible with trichinosis. Eosinophilia was present in all of those who were ill and in none who remained well. There were no positive results in skin tests with commercial skin-test antigen. Latex agglutination and counterelectrophoresis were equally good methods for the diagnosis of trichinosis and were more sensitive than the bentonite flocculation test. Levels of IgE in those with illness and eosinophilia were not significantly different from the levels in persons who remained well. It is concluded that skin tests should be abandoned until an improved antigen becomes available, that the relative value of diagnostic serologic methods require continued evaluation, and that levels of IgE may not rise significantly after trichinosis.