A dramatic increase in the incidence of human trichinellosis in Romania over the past 25 years: impact of political changes and regional food habits.

According to the International Commission on Trichinellosis survey in 2004, Romania has the most cases of trichinellosis in the world. Epidemiologic data for each county were collected and analyzed from two different time periods: before (1980-1989) and after (1990-2004) political changes. Data were analyzed separately for Transylvania and the rest of the Romanian counties. During the past 25 years, 28,293 human cases of trichinellosis were reported with an incidence of 51.0 cases per 10(6) persons per year. An important increase in the incidence was observed from 1980 to 1989 compared with the 1990-2004 period. For the entire period, the incidence rate obtained for Transylvanian counties (82.2 cases per 10(6) persons per year) was higher than the incidence rate obtained for the other counties (35.7 cases per 10(6) persons per year). Hypotheses and facts contributing to the heterogeneity of human trichinellosis cases are discussed.