Here is some information about Pork
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Authorities in Malaysia are testing more blood samples from pig farm workers after four people were infected by the deadly Nipah virus.
* Nipah virus can lead to deadly encephalitis in humans.
* Fifteen pig farms on Borneo Island had been put under quarantine pending the results of the blood tests taken from pigs.
* An outbreak last year caused over 100 deaths and the slaughter of more than 1 million pigs.
The re-emergence rattled many Malaysians, especially the Chinese community, which consumes pork, unlike the Moslem community, which does not.
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Some diabetics and others with weakened immune systems may do well to steer clear of chitterlings, a dish consisting of boiled pig intestines that is served up as traditional holiday fare in the Southern US. A 12-year-old boy with poorly controlled diabetes became seriously ill after eating the food in three separate Christmas dinners.
The child was hospitalized with enteritis necroticans, a potentially life-threatening intestinal infection that is rare in America and causes severe stomach pain, vomiting of blood and low blood pressure. The boy eventually had to have surgery to restore his intestinal function. The culprit turned out to be a chitterlings-contaminating bacterium known as Clostridium perfringens type C, which produces a toxin that is lethal to tissue in the digestive tract. Even cooking the chitterlings, however, may not rid them of bacteria.
More common in developing countries, enteritis necroticans can occur in children who eat large amounts of pork or in those who consume large meals after a period of starvation. Other factors that can contribute to the illness are protein malnutrition, and the consumption of sweet potatoes, which can interfere with the breakdown of the bacterial toxin in the intestines.
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Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the primary cause of epidemic and sporadic enterically transmitted non-A, non-B hepatitis worldwide, according to the Mayo Clinic Until this report, the US had been spared infection with HEV. In the case-report of a 62 year-old Minnesota man, both the pathologic findings in the liver biopsy specimen and the clinical course were characteristic of acute hepatitis E, as confirmed by nucleotide sequencing. The source of the infection could not be identified, although the man had eaten food at a California restaurant where the workers were not screened for HEV.
HEV infection should be considered in any person coming from an HEV endemic area with hepatitis and negative serologic markers for hepatitis A, B, and C .Pork may be the reservoir responsible for sporadic, locally acquired cases of acute hepatitis reported in regions with relatively mild climates. The comment is based on two recent isolations of HEV from American swine that suggest that, .in the United States, hepatitis E is a zoonosis with the swine population as one of its hosts.
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Of all the species that might provide organs for humans in need of transplants, pigs have long been considered the most promising candidates.But a wider array of pig tissues appear to be infected with strains of a virus that could spread to people than previously thought. The virus,
porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV), may actually spread to people receiving pig organ transplants. Until recently, scientists believed pigs were more or less free of pathogens that could spread to people. But last year, researchers in the UK discovered that PERV genes are scattered throughout pigs' genetic material. Researchers also found that pig heart, spleen and kidney cells release various strains of the virus. And test tube studies in the laboratory show that these strains can infect human cells.
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New studies on food safety have found pork may contain even more dangerous germs than poultry.
The findings were presented at the 2001 Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in Chicago.
A team of researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested nearly 600 packages of ground pork purchased from different grocery stores in five states.
They found high levels of Enterococci bacteria, a common cause of food poisoning that is resistant to antibiotic drugs.
Scientists say patients who have antibiotic-resistant enterococcal infections have a death rate of 37 per cent.
Enterococci were found on three per cent of ground pork.
"With pork chops or steaks, you've got bacteria contamination on the outside," says lead researcher Jennifer McClennan.
And with ground meats, the bacteria are found throughout, making them more dangerous.
"You've got to make sure to cook (pork) thoroughly."
As a result, McClennan says cooks should follow stringent practices when they prepare pork and anything cooked less than medium is probably not a good idea.
Another study presented at the symposium raised further concerns about pork.
Dutch researchers found the Enterococci bacteria in pigs cause more trouble for humans than the same type of bacteria found in poultry.
The researchers recommended farmers use antibiotics sparingly on their animals.
About half of the antibiotics given to animals worldwide are used so they can grow bigger and remain disease-free.
The continuous exposure to antibiotics can also alter the balance of good to bad germs, promoting the antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria in the animal.
Resistant strains can be passed on to humans when they consume the meat of the animal. Researchers found these bacteria in pork seemed to survive and thrive longer in humans than those found in poultry.
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The meat and fat of a pig absorbs toxins like a sponge. Their meat can be 30 times more toxic than beef or venison.
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When a pig is butchered, worms and insects take to its flesh sooner and faster than to other animal's flesh. In a few days the swine flesh is full of worms.
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Swine and pigs have over a dozen parasites within them, such as tapeworms, flukes, worms, and trichinae.
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The trichinae worm of the swine is microscopically small, and once ingested can lodge itself in our intestines, muscles, spinal cord or the brain. This results in the disease trichinosis. The symptoms are sometimes lacking, but when present they are mistaken for other diseases, such as typhoid, arthritis, rheumatism, gastritis, MS, meningitis, gall bladder trouble, or acute alcoholism.
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Those are just a few of the points about pork. And if you research any of the other animals that are considered unclean you will see why.
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