Undercooked Bear Meat Sparks Parasitic Outbreak

Eating undercooked meat is an easy way to get infected with a nasty disease or parasite that can wreak havoc on your insides. Some attendees at a barbecue in North Carolina learned that lesson the hard way.

According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , a serving of undercooked bear meat at a gathering in western North Carolina last year led to an apparent outbreak of trichinellosis among many of the attendees who ate it. Of the 34 attendees surveyed, 22 of them, or 65 percent, reported eating the meat; 10 of them, or about 45 percent, experienced symptoms consistent with trichinellosis infection.

Trichinella nematodes are parasites that can cause trichinellosis when humans consume raw or undercooked meat that contains dormant larvae. Trichinellosis is rare in the U.S. and most recent cases have been tied to the consumption of wild game meat. Among the most common symptoms are myalgia and fever in 54 percent of cases and facial swelling in 42 percent of those affected. The first patient linked to the North Carolina gathering "experienced influenza-like symptoms and facial swelling."

To avoid this happening to you, make sure you practice as much food safety as possible—especially when you're hunting your meat yourself.

"Communication of safe wild game meat preparation is the most effective way to prevent trichinellosis. Diagnostic antibody tests might have poor accuracy, and treatment costs can be substantial," the CDC warned. "Cooking wild game meat to an internal temperature [of or greater than] 165 degrees Fahrenheit is necessary to kill Trichinella parasites."

If you're cooking some meat you caught yourself, you'll probably want to err more on the well-done side.