TWiP 278: Trichinella from eating bear eyeballs
From This Week in Parasitism by Vincent Racaniello
April 24, 2026 · 56 min · Episode 278
About this episode
The episode discusses a case of a young man in Japan who fell ill after consuming a raw bear eyeball, leading to a diagnosis involving Trichinella.
TWiP solves the case of the male in his 20s from Hokkaido, Japan, who developed fatigue and rash, followed by fever and myalgia 6 days later, after eating a raw bear eyeball. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello , Daniel Griffin , and Christina Naula Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , RSS , email Links for this episode Join the MicrobeTV Discord server Hero: Sir Nicholas White (1951 – 2026) ( Guardian , Lancet ) Letters read on TWiP 278 TWiP study – information and survey New Case 3 yo child who recently immigrated to the US from Central America is brought in to the ER with acute right lower quadrant abdominal pain. The mother is concerned about the pain as well as nausea and vomiting. This is acute and the ER provider is concerned that this might be an acute surgical emergency. They order an US in this child and they are surprised to see a rather active serpiginous wormlike 'thing' wiggling away in the child's appendix. I was sent the Ultrasound video which I really enjoyed. What to do? Become a patron of TWiP Send your questions and comments to twip@microbe.tv Music by Ronald Jenkees
People in this episode
Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Daniel Griffin, Christina Naula
Topics covered
- parasitism
- Trichinella
- bear eyeballs
- case study
- medical diagnosis
- acute abdominal pain
Keywords
- Trichinella
- bear eyeballs
- Hokkaido
- fatigue
- rash
- fever
- myalgia
- acute abdominal pain
- serpiginous worm
- appendix
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: TWiP study
Places: Hokkaido, Japan, Central America
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