A 59-year-old Danish woman presented to her general practitioner (GP) at the end of June. A few weeks earlier, during a meal at home in Denmark, she had consumed a slice of pork sausage ('teewurst', German sausage) brought to her by three Polish visitors. Later she learned that one of her guests had fallen ill, and that two of them, including the one who had fallen ill, were shown to be seropositive for trichinellosis. When the woman contacted her GP and submitted a blood sample for serological analysis, she had no symptoms. The initial ELISA test was positive, and seropositivity for trichinellosis was confirmed by immunoblotting. The woman subsequently received treatment with a high dose of mebendazole.
A son of the woman and two other adults who are thought to have also consumed the sausage are currently being tested for trichinellosis; so far none of them have reported any symptoms.
This summer, an outbreak of trichinellosis in Poland affecting over 200 people has been described [1]. Cases in Ireland [2] and Germany [3] have also recently been reported. This is the first case in Denmark that could be related to the Polish outbreak.
A note on this case was published in the news section of the website of Statens Serum Institut (http://www.ssi.dk).

References:

1. Golab E, Szulc M, Sadkowska-Todys M. Outbreak of trichinellosis in north-western Poland, June 2007. Euro Surveill 2007;12(7):E070712.1. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ew/2007/070712.asp#1
2. McHugh G, Kiely D, Low J, Healy ML, Hayes C, Clarke S. Importation of Polish trichinellosis cases to Ireland, June 2007. Euro Surveill 2007;12(7):E070719.3. Available from: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ew/2007/070719.asp#3

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