One family suffered a grizzly problem after a family reunion: brain worms.
Six of eight family members ranging from 12 to 62 years old who enjoyed a meal that included kebobs made from black bear meat contracted trichinellosis, aka “brain worms,” according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Two of the sick family members only ate vegetables that were cooked with the meat.
The food-borne disease — which is rarely reported in the US, but generally comes from eating wild game — came to light when one of the family members, 29, went to a Minnesota hospital in July 2022 with a fever, severe muscle aches, swelling around the eyes and other abnormalities discovered in blood tests, the CDC said. He reported that he spent time with family members from Arizona, Minnesota and South Dakota in the latter state that summer, and had been hospitalized twice over a 17-day period.
While together, the family indulged in meat from a black bear that one of them had hunted in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, the previous May. The hunter believed the meat was safe after being stored in a household freezer for 45 days before it was consumed.
The worms would have been killed, the CDC said, had the meat been cooked to a temperature of over 165 degrees.
“The meat was initially inadvertently served rare, reportedly because the meat was dark in color, and it was difficult for the family members to visually ascertain the level of doneness,” the CDC said. “After some of the family members began eating the meat and noticed that it was undercooked, the meat was recooked before being served again.”
The reunion ended before the Minnesota family member fell ill.
Three of the relatives with symptoms were hospitalized, and all six recovered.