I have cured the Empress of Boolampoo of a Cramp she got in her tongue by eating Pork and buttered parsnips .... The Earl of Rochester-17th Century As the modern outpouring of biological information continues at ever increasing pace, two kinds of reviews are needed to keep the torrent in manageable form. The one assumes a working knowledge of the field in question and tries to bring the reader up to date by reporting and assessing the recent developments. The other attempts to assimilate the recent developments into a coherent restatement of the whole subject. This book falls in the latter category. Trichinella spiralis infection has been in the medical and biological limelight for more than a century, and interest in it continues una bated-as evidenced by what Norman Stoll called the "perennially exuberant" research on trichinosis. The infection seems to offer some thing for almost everyone. For the physician, it offers a patient with painful and sometimes fatal disease; for the public-health official, a threat to the commonweal; for the experimental biologist, a life cycle that is unique yet easily and rapidly maintained in the laboratory; for the field ecologist, a symbiont with an affinity for an extraordinary range of wildlife species; for the pork producer, a poorer profit; for the cook, a culinary constraint; and for the diner, a dietary danger. Yet, despite this breadth of interest, and the cascade of new data, the only comprehensive books on the subject in English are those of S.E.

Infections with the parasite Trichinella spiralis have undoubtedly been present for thousands of years, but it was only 150 years ago that the parasite was associated with clinical disease in man and subsequently with the consumption of raw or inadequately cooked pork. The 54 papers in the book contain the most recent information on the parasite Trichinella and on the disease, trichinellosis. Presented by scientists from 17 countries throughout the world, the papers are the record of the Sixth International Conference on Trichinellosis held at Val Morin, Quebec Province, Canada, July 8-12, 1984. The program consisted of three symposia, each devoted to immunology, genetics, and epidemiology and control. The scientific sessions consisted of the following areas: immunology, pathology, speciation (characterization of isolates), biology (ultrastructure), slaughterhouse, epidemiology, hosts susceptibility and resistance, and sero-diagnosis and chemotherapy. In addition, there were informal workshops on immunology, speciation, and clinical therapy, which are not included here. This comprehensive volume will serve as a valuable resource to all who are actively engaged in basic and applied research and in treating the disease. Therefore, the book is useful for parasitologists, immunologists, pathologists, clinicians, veterinarians and public health workers interested in Trichinella and trichinellosis.