Zool. Pl. -æ. Also in anglicized form (or from Fr.) trichine. [mod.L. Trichina (whence F. trichine), f. Gr. τρίχῐνος adj. of hair,’ f. θρίξ, τριχ- hair.] A genus of minute parasitic nematoid worms; esp. the species T. spiralis, which infests man and various animals, the adult inhabiting the intestinal tract, and the larvæ migrating to and becoming encysted in the muscular tissue, causing TRICHINOSIS.
1835. Trans. Zool. Soc., I. 323. I have seen in … the diseased muscle, groups of minute oblong vesicles … these may … be germs of the Trichina.
1858. Copland, Dict. Pract. Med., III. 1399. The Trichina having found a resting place, a cyst closely adhering to the tissues is formed round it.
1875. trans. von Ziemssen’s Cycl. Med., III. 651. To exterminate the rat is to exterminate trichinæ.
attrib. 1857. trans. Küchenmeister’s Anim. & Veg. Parasites (Syd. Soc.), I. 351. The spot to which it reached during the trichina-life.
(1865. Even. Standard, 12 Dec., 5/2. The trichine disease continues its ravages at Hadersleben.)
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 1051. Examination of the rats of different countries proves the extreme liability of this rodent to trichina infection.
1901. Mem. & Lett. Sir J. Paget, iii. 58. Epidemics of this trichina-fever.
Hence Trichinal a., of or pertaining to the trichina (in quot. 1857 spec. the larva); Trichinatous a. erroneous formation for TRICHINOUS; ǁ Trichiniasis [mod.L.: cf. elephantiasis] = TRICHINOSIS; Trichinid, a worm of the family Trichinidæ; Trichiniferous a. [-FEROUS], containing or conveying trichinæ; Trichinize v., trans. to infect with trichinæ (hence Trichinization, Trichinized ppl. a.); Trichinoid a., resembling or allied to Trichina.
1857. trans. Küchenmeister’s Anim. & Veg. Parasites (Syd. Soc.), I. 346. It is almost impossible to determine during the *Trichinal existence, to which of the two sexes the mature animal would belong.
1885. A. W. Blyth, in Leisure Hour, Jan., 25/2. This ham … was discovered to be swarming with … trichinal cysts.
1870. Nicholson, Man. Zool., xxvi. I. 152. If … a portion of *trichinatous muscle be eaten by a warm-blooded vertebrate, and so introduced into the alimentary canal, an immediate development of young Trichinae is the result.
1854–67. C. A. Harris, Dict. Med. Terminol., s.v. Trichina, The disease … called *Trichiniasis or Trichina disease.
1871. Sir T. Watson, Lect. Princ. & Pract. Physic (ed. 5), II. 636. Within a month after the dinner 20 of these persons had died of, and more than 80 were then suffering from, ‘trichiniasis.’
1869. E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 195. The eating of raw *trichiniferous pork is the chief cause of the propagation of the entozoon to man.
1864. N. Syd. Soc. Year-bk. Med., 175. Experiments with picro-nitrate of potash on *trichinised rabbits.
1866. Standard, 19 Feb. The cat and the dog were both trichinised experimentally.
