Vancouver Island folks: PLEASE HELP

i had bear meat too. these folks i was staying with shot it when it got into their fruit trees. they made it into a stew sort of thing and we ate it for days on end till i made a fuss about eating the same thing everyday. it didn't taste bad but it was really chewy to begin with and got moreso as the days went by.

 

Do yourself a great justice... Get your blood and digestive system completely checked for bear related parasites...

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Trichinellosis is a parasitic infection caused by tissue-dwelling Trichinella roundworms and is associated traditionally with ingestion of pork from infected domestic swine. As a result of improvements in swine production, trichinellosis has declined steadily in the United States (1). However, infection also can result from eating the meat of wild animals. During 1997 2001, a total of 72 cases of trichinellosis (median: 12 cases annually; range: 11-23 cases) were reported to CDC; the majority of these infections were associated with eating wild game, predominantly bear. This report describes three cases of trichinellosis associated with eating undercooked bear meat reported from New York and Tennessee in 2003. To prevent trichinellosis, persons should cook meat, particularly wild game, to an internal temperature of 160[degrees] F (71[degrees] C).


The New York State Department of Health was notified of a trichinellosis case in a man aged 54. The patient had been hospitalized in a tertiary care center with a 3-week history of diaphoresis, fever, weakness, tachycardia, diarrhea, an 8-pound weight loss, and dry cough. Laboratory testing indicated an elevated white blood cell (WBC) count (20,600/[mm.sup.3] [normal: 5,000-10,000/ [mm.sup.3]] with 33% eosinophils), hyponatremia (123 mmol sodium/L [normal: 136-145 mmol sodium/L]), elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (823 U/L [normal: 313-618 U/L]), and elevated creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) (1,554 U/L [normal: 10-250 U/L]).

The patient reported eating approximately 2 pounds of nearly raw bear meat during several meals 2 weeks before onset of symptoms. The meat had come from a custom slaughter house in upstate New York and had been frozen at -4[degrees] F (-20[degrees] C) for approximately 1 week before ingestion. Because of suspicion of trichinellosis infection, albendazole and corticosteroids were administered. Weakness and fatigue persisted through late December 2003. The patient recovered fully by February 2004.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Wildlife Pathology Unit recovered nine packages of bear meat from multiple bears from the patient's freezer and identified Trichinella spp. larvae in five of the seven packages examined. Muscle digestion with artificial gastric juice yielded 0.5-48.0 larvae per gram of bear meat. The remaining two packages of meat were examined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which identified Trichinella nativa by polymerase chain reaction

In November 2003, the Tennessee Department of Health received a report of two cases of trichinellosis in persons. A man aged 38 years and a woman aged 54 years were admitted to a hospital with 7-day and 14-day histories of fever, respectively, chills, headache, myalgias, arthralgias, and facial swelling. The man's WBC count was 14,600/[mm.sup.3], with 24% eosinophils, 13% lymphocytes, and 2% monocytes. The woman's WBC count was 16,200/[mm.sup.3], with 28% eosinophils, 13% lymphocytes, and 3% monocytes. Serum obtained from both patients tested positive for Trichinella antibodies, and both were started on a course of albendazole and corticosteroids. Both patients have recovered fully.

Questioning of the patients revealed that, in late August 2003, the man had shot a black bear (Ursus americanus) in Canada. The bear was field dressed, and selected meat was packed on ice for transport to Tennessee. On August 31, the man and woman prepared and cooked the bear meat on an outdoor grill for themselves and four other persons. The man and woman are their steaks medium rare; the four others ate their steaks well done. The remaining meat was packaged for storage in a household freezer, and the family continued to consume the meat during September.

In December, samples of the bear meat were examined histologically at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. Numerous Trichinella larvae were observed encysted in characteristic hyalinized capsules in the striated muscle tissue (Figure). The larvae had diameters of approximately 30-35 [micro]m, and the diagnostic morphology of the stichosome was apparent at high (400x) magnification.

Further testing of the bear meat at USDA recovered live larvae (estimated infection intensity: 350-400 larvae per gram of muscle), and PCR results were consistent with the genotype T. nativa.

Undercooked wild game has emerged in recent years as a predominant source for infection with Trichinella. During 1997-2001, of the 52 U.S. cases in which a source of infection was known or suspected, pork products were associated with 21 cases, and wild game was associated with 31, including 29 cases linked to bear meat .

In Canada, the majority of trichinellosis outbreaks during the previous three decades were attributed to eating meat from wild animals.

Increasing local bear populations combined with the popularity of bear hunting in the northeastern United States and Canada might contribute to increased cases of Trichinella infection. In 2003, in New York state, a record number of approximately 1,850 bears were reported killed by hunters. NYSDEC provides information about trichinellosis and proper cooking instructions for wild game with each bear-hunting license issued.

The meat from hunted animals often is given away and eaten by persons who are unaware of the need to cook the meat thoroughly enough to kill larvae. Multiple exposures also can occur when bear meat is served at wild game parties.

Freezing at specified temperatures kills T. spiralis larvae in pork, T. nativa is a freeze-resistant species that remains viable after freezing, even for months or years.

Educational messages concerning the risks of eating meat cooked improperly do not always reach persons at risk for trichinellosis. To prevent future cases of trichinellosis, health-education messages should target wild game hunters who are most at risk for Trichinella infection. Information on the parasite and proper cooking should be made available at points of wild game distribution, such as custom butchers and game meat processors. To prevent trichinellosis, consumers should be advised to monitor for an adequate cooking temperature of 160[degrees] F (71[degrees] C) and observe the color and texture of the meat during cooking. A change in color from red to dark gray throughout and a change in texture such that muscle fiber's are easily separated from each other are indicators that meat has been rendered safe to eat. However, game meats such as bear are very dark, making interpretation of color changes difficult; for these, adequate cooking might be better judged by texture and temperature. USDA recommends a higher temperature to allow for different cooking methods (e.g., microwave cooking) that might result in uneven temperature distributions throughout the meat.

Symptoms: fever, facial edema, myalgias, muscle swelling, and weakness. However, as demonstrated in the T. nativa cases described in this report, some of these symptoms might be absent. Eosinophilia typically is present in cases of trichinellosis, and elevated blood levels of muscle enzymes also are common. Physicians should consider trichinellosis in any ill person with eosinophilia and a history of eating wild game.

 

so really its because the meat wasn't cooked properly

 

It sounds too scary for me to even want to touch the stuff without rubber gloves...

 

If the bear was from the wilderness, was healthy, was killed at the right time of year, and was quickly skinned and cleaned, the meat is just like other red meat. I ate bear sandwiches at my uncles, and thought it was roast beef. The gamey taste that so many people think moose, elk, bison, bear, deer, etc. all have...

they don't have to, and when done right, are far better for you than the store bought meat is.

 

It would seem that you really want to believe that delusion...
Go get yourself tested while it is still curable...
You don't want to go through life with what I've seen others go through...

Hey! I assisted victims of a car accident, in Vancouver... and after the ambulances came and went, I noticed I had the other guy's blood laced across a scab on my hand.. Super foolish of me to assist bleeding people without having a pair of rubber gloves on my person, these days of plague class STD's...
I had to wait a couple months to get Aids tested... Thank goodness the tests came back negative... That part of Van holds the highest concentration of gays in all of western Canada... The "fellow" I assisted had a gay aire about him, (or her?)...
I am much more careful these days... I have my first aider's ticket, and I carry a thin pair of rubber gloves in my wallet these days...

Point being: Get yourself tested... And don't eat anymore wild meat...
Hike, camp, fish, swim, smile at the wild critters, maybe even touch them... but don't eat them... Cows and pigs and poultry and fish are bred and raised by our Species to get away from those wild meat diseases... Best to just stick with our engineered meats... and live healthier and longer... You wouldn't eat hot coals and fire, would you...? You wouldn't eat fish that you could see is chock full of slithering maggots, would you...?

Have you noticed that there are less and less wild critters to be seen, every year, in your wilderness treks...? One day the planet will simply just run out of Life because of us slaughtering and eating everything that wiggles and squeeks and breathes.

 

our engineered meats?? oh right the ones we raise for consumption...the ones that are polluted and contaminated with things like drugs, chemicals, avian flu, salmonella, ecoli, or mad cow disease right,...whew, i'm glad you set me straight buddy...

 

well back on subject, I'm back home

Van city, Tofino, Pacific Rim National Park, Victoria, Juan de Fuca trail, Salt Spring Island, Duncan, Comox, Campbell River, the Inside Passage, Prince Rupert, Skiddigette, Queen Charlotte City, Tlell, Masset, Naikoon Provincial Park and Sandspit were my ports of call

I backpacked, hiked, kayaked, flew, bused, ferried, hitchhiked and biked along the way

Met loggers, surfers, hippies, carvers, drunks, street kids, scuba divers, natives, grannies, photographers, students, katimaviktims and many other people along the way

climbed mountains, worked a logging blockade, recieved a sacred gift, surfed the pacific, walked amongst towering, melnia old trees and glimpsed the peaks of Alaska while on a beachside stroll

I think it will take me some time to reflect on it all, but I'm home safe now, something I have mixed feelings about.

On a side note, I had some deer meat and wild salmon the other night, it was delicious, filling and I'm positivly sure EXTREMELY healthy, both for the body, and soul. Arguing that industrial reared meat is better for you then something that emerges from it's natural environment is rediculous.

 

"Arguing that industrial reared meat is better for you then something that emerges from it's natural environment is rediculous."


Sounds like you did a super BC trip... I'm so jealous that my aura is a soft green... Dam! I miss those delicious BC mountains, and that pure natural water, and the clean air, and those real honest and dignified people...


"Industrial Meat"...
Well we know where that's directed...
We are gonna eat our world out of forest critters...
Every little mouthful adds to this impending disaster, mankind destroying nature... Try bear and puffer fish...

Check out this little experiment: Peg down your month's prime day, and start writing something real powerful deep... Stop half way... and go have yourself a couple large burgers, or a large steak, or as you wish, some deer meat... Wait an hour, then go back to your writing... to discover that you can't think any strong thoughts, while you are digesting animal's muscles... and that you feel sluggish, and tired... Is that a good sign?

 

Industrial meat, as in the stuff that's chalked full of steroids, chemicals hormones and questionable grainfeed

Industrial meat, as in the factory farms which release billions of tons of organic polutents into nighbouring agricultural lands anually. The methane gas realesed by cattle ranching is actually one of the leading contributors of climate change.

Industrial meat, as in engineered species, that if accidentilly realeased into the wild could spell extinction for thier natural bretheren (fish farming particularly)

Don't lecture me, you havn't the foggiest as to my diet, spirituality or politics in the matter. But if you're curious:

I eat a meat reduced diet and that which I don't fish or hunt for myself is free range, organic and local.

Hunting is RARELY sighted as the leading threat to any given spieces. The primary concern is almost always loss of habitiat. Factory farm, WHAM, loss of habitat. Road to transport factory farmed meat, WHAM loss of habitat. Resourses extraction, concrete processing, concrete transportation, WHAM loss of habitat. Industrial size slaughter houses, WHAM loss of habitat. Jumbosize supermarket, WHAM loss of habitat. You're telling me, that by going out and taking the life of one creature, quartering it, hiking it out on my own back, making use of every morsel possible and returning the remains back to it's habitat that I pose a threat to it's species? Did I use a road? Did I use a slaughter house? Did I use a supermarket? Did I ingest unatural steroids, hormones and chemicals and then in turn release that into our water table?

This being said I'm not advocating that we should all pick up guns and start shooting. For me hunting is a very personal and spiritual thing, along with gathering natural foods and medicines it's one of the primary ways in which I connect with the earth, learn about it, and inevitably give back to it and fight for it.

What I'm advocating is that people get thier head's out thier asses and realise what they consume does not naturally apear on the supermarket shelf, it's a lenghty and more often then not unsustainable, environmentally destructive process. I shop at farmers markets, buy in season, fish in season, hunt in season, garden in my backyard, etc, etc, etc. If I am somehow still in your mind part of the problem and not part of the solution then I would say you have a delusional understanding of biology and the realities of todays agricultural industry.

For the record, I often write, and the thaughts which I express are more often then not deep and reflective because I am at ease with who I am and the things which I consume to sustain that being.

 

Bear meat = bad. My friend's brother is a creature capturer. When ever there is a loose cougar or something in the towns, he's the one who tranquilizes them and brings them back into their natural surroundings. Sometimes, though, his orders are to completely get rid of the animal and in that case, the whole house eats it so that it does not go to waste. I used to go to daycare at her house as a child. Bear meat was just wrong.

 

people on vancouver island...ya'll should check out the treesit at cathedral grove... its just past the parking lot in cathedral grove when yer on the way to tofino..
there is a couple websites cathedralgrove.se and .com
see you in the trees!

 

ps. factory farming=retarded, wild food=orgasmic

 

and while you're cuminn' yer brains out, eating up our planet's critters, think about it when the only wild animals our children's children get to see, are stuffed ones in museums...

Better if you just eat your cat... and all the roadkill you can find...

 

It's natural to eat animals. It's not natural to farm them.



Also, yeah Cathedral grove is awesome. You cand find it on www.vancouverisland.com

 

Well,, I can tell ya that the hitch-hiking is relatively safe; I know people who've gone half the island with no problems and their thumb as their best tool. Actually.. alot of people hitch-hike in Courtenay... hmm. I'm always seeing people here and there...

Plus there's alot of places to camp too.

Oh yeah,, and MusicFest 2005 is going on from the 8-10 in Courtenay,, so that's a good time to camp and have fun all at the same time!

 

Hitch hiking is pretty much safe in BC... but as you go east, it gets progressively more dangerous...

My lady and I got a ride at 10M in Sask... The three stonned roudies in the front seat mumbled/whispered something about taking them out into the fields, and taking their packs... then they all giggled like drunk little pigs squeel...

I looked at Jeanie sternly... Jeanie looked at me fearful... as I slowly pulled my S&W chiefs 38-special from the pack, and quietly clicked the safe off... then reached to Jeanie's hand, and held it in a firm gentle grip... and whispered softly into her ear, "I have the controlling factor primed and ready... We're safe as safe can be... No worries Babe"...
As we approached a well lit intersection, I said, "This is our corner gents"... They asked repetedly, "Are you sure?...
They let us out at our spot...

Point is: some rides may play some real nasty mind games with you...
The key is, you get a bad feeling as they pull to a stop where you're hitch hiking...
Just look into the car, and at their faces, and make an instant decision to take the ride or not... If not, ask how far are you going? and say you are waiting for a ride all the way to X... and thanks for stopping, Byie"...