Trichina (trikina)

[NL. (Owen, 1835), Trichinidæ. T. spiral is is a hair-like nematoid worm, which in the larval state is occasionally found encysted in large numbers in the muscular ti ue of man and certain lower animals. In the adult state it may inhabit the intestinal tract of the same animal. It is the cause of trichinosis. The adult male is 1.5 millimeters, the female from 3 to 4 millimeters long. The female gives birth to immense numbers of embryos, about one tenth of a millimeter long. These pierce the walls of the intestine, and either enter the peritoneal cavity and thence find their way into the various muscles, or else enter blood-ve els and are carried pa ively by the blood-current into remote parts of the body. Having reached the muscular ti ue, they at first travel a short distance between the fibers, then pierce the sarcolemma of some one fiber and enter its substance. When they have arrived at a certain maturity, and are from 6 to 1 millimeter long, they coil themselves up in the form of a spiral and become inclosed in elongated or lemon-shaped cysts about 4 millimeters SRE C 6468 long, the cyst rarely containing more than one worm. After a variable length of time, the cyst or capsule may become filled with lime-salts. The worm is thereby more or le obscured, but the cyst becomes visible to the naked eye as a minute white speck. The inclosed trichina may remain alive ten years and even longer, although it under goes further development until the muscular Containing it is consumed raw by man or some susceptible animal. It then becomes sexually mature in the intestines within two or three days, to give birth to embryos in five or six days more, thus completing the life-cycle. T. spiral is has been found in the muscular ti ue of man, swine, cats, rats, hedgehogs, racoons, badgers, martens, marmots, and polecats, and in almost every part of the globe. 2. [l. c.; pl. trichinæ (-nē), sometimes trichinas (-näz).] A worm of this genus. trichiniasis (trik-i-ni'a-sis), n . [NL., Tri china + -iasis.] Same as trichinosis . Trichinidæ (tri-kin'i-dē), n . pl . [NL., Trichi na + -idæ .] A family of nematoid worms, of which the genus Trichina is the type. trichiniferous (trik-i-nif'e-rus), a. [ ferre = E. bear1 .] Containing trichinæ, as muscular or other ti ue. trichinization (triki-ni-za's hon), n. inize + -ation .] Infection with trichine; the state of being trichinized; trichinosis. It is sometimes practised upon animals for the purpose of studying the parasite or the disease. Also spelled trich in is at i on . [ trich trichinize (trik'i-niz), v. t.; pret. and pp. trich inized, ppr. trichinizing. [NL. Trichina + -ize.] To infect with trichine; produce trichinosis in. Also spelled trichinise. The ingestion of badly trichinised meat, insufficiently cooked, is followed after a few hours by symptoms of ind i. gestion.. Quain, Med. Dict., p. 1657.