Any of several small parasitic nematode worms of the genus Trichinella, especially T. spiralis, that infest the intestines of various mammals and that move through the bloodstream as larvae, becoming encysted in muscles.
A small, slender nematoid worm (Trichina spiralis) which, in the larval state, is parasitic, often in immense numbers, in the voluntary muscles of man, the hog, and many other animals. When insufficiently cooked meat containing the larvæ is swallowed by man, they are liberated and rapidly become adult, pair, and the ovoviviparous females produce in a short time large numbers of young which find their way into the muscles, either directly, or indirectly by means of the blood. Their presence in the muscles and the intestines in large numbers produces trichinosis.
