This disease results from a nematode that invades intestines and muscle tissue and is contracted by eating raw or undercooked pork infected with the nematode; rats help spread this when hogs eat food or garbage contaminated with infested rat droppings.

• A. Trichinosis
• B. Salmonella food poisoning
• C. Meningitis
• D. Dermatitis

Answer: (A)

Nematode infections that involve both the intestines and muscle tissue, acquired by eating undercooked pork containing the larvae, point to Trichinellosis. The parasite, Trichinella spiralis, lives first in the small intestine of the host and releases larvae that travel through the bloodstream to striated muscles, where they encyst. When people or pigs eat meat with these encysted larvae, the cycle continues. Rats contribute to spread by contaminating hog feed or garbage with their droppings, leading pigs to ingest infected material. This combination of intestinal infection, muscle encystment, and rat-facilitated transmission through pork makes this the best fit. The other options describe illnesses not caused by this nematode or not involving muscle-stage infection from pork.