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Mystery illness among pork workers named
Further to reports of a rare neurological disorder
having affected 11 workers at a Minneapolis pork processing plant last year, the
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have officially termed this
illness progressive inflammatory neuropathy, or PIN.
PIN is believed to be triggered by inhaling pig brains. In Minnesota at the
Quality Pork Processors plant, and now in another plant in Indiana, many workers
have been reporting symptoms of the illness, which include numbness, fatigue,
and a tingling feeling in the arms and legs.
Officials in Minnesota said they want to investigate QPP workers going back a
decade, to when an air-compression system was installed to remove brain tissue
from pig heads.
The question is whether pig brain tissue was inhaled by workers who became
sick after it was liquefied during removal by the air-compression system and
sprayed into the air as droplets.
Both plants have already stopped the process of removing pig brains and the
CDC is continuing its investigation.
Related websites:
• Pig Progress
• CDC
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