Date of Award:

5-1-1941

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Biology

Committee Chair(s)

D. M. Hammond

Committee

D. M. Hammond

Committee

W. B. Preston

Abstract

Definition and History. Trichinella spiralis, the causative organism in trichinosis, and commonly termed the "trichina worm," was first known by its encysted larval stage in the muscles of man as early as 1821, when it was noted by Tiedemann in Germany, and again in 1828, when it was seen by Peacock of London. Mr. Paget, who was a student at the Saint Bartholomew Hospital in London, noted whitish specks in the muscles of an Italian, aged 45, who had died at the hospital. Suspecting these specks to be produced by a minute internal parasite, Mr. Paget gave portions of the muscle to Mr. Owen (1835), who described the parasite and gave it the name, Trichina spiralis. This name, in 1895, was changed by Ralliet to Trichinella spiralis.

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