Submitted to: Hunter's Tropical Medicine
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: August 23, 2012
Publication Date: N/A
Interpretive Summary: This provides a brief overview of the sarcocystsis infections for a medical reference textbook. The epidemiology, clinical presentation, and natural history of these foodborne infections are concisely reviewed and illustrated.
Technical Abstract: Consuming raw beef or pork can establish human infections with Sarcocystis hominis or Sarcocystis suihominis, respectively. Whether the sarcocysts in other meats also pose risks to human health remains unclear. Our understanding of their epidemiology relies on sporadic case reports and occasionally recognized outbreaks, and our understanding of their pathogenesis relies on a few experimental infections of human volunteers. Fortunately, these limited studies can be compared to a broader veterinary literature describing how and where these parasites develop in their hosts.