Copyright © 2011 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Human trichinellosis is an important food-borne parasitic zoonosis that causes ~10,000 human infections per year with a corresponding mortality rate of 0.2%. 1, 2 Humans are infected by eating raw or undercooked meat of various omnivores and carnivores, particularly pork from domestic or wild pigs. In Thailand, the first trichinellosis outbreak was caused by the consumption of raw pork from hill tribe pigs in Mae Hong Son province, in the northern part of Thailand. 3 Subsequently, as many as 118 outbreaks were reported from 1962 to 1991, mostly in northern Thailand. 4 The sources of infection were mainly hill tribe pigs and wild boars, and the infecting parasite in all cases was regarded as Trichinella spiralis. 5 However, spe-cies identification confirming the presence of T. spiralis was revealed in only one outbreak. 6 Two more species were later found. In 1994, an outbreak of human trichinellosis caused by Trichinella pseudospiralis was reported in Chumporn prov