Diversity of Trichinella species in relation to the host species and geographical location

Publication date: Available online 5 February 2020Source: Veterinary ParasitologyAuthor(s): Ewa Bilska-Zając, Mirosław Różycki, Katarzyna Grądziel-Krukowska, Aneta Bełcik, Iwona Mizak, Jacek Karamon, Jacek Sroka, Jolanta Zdybel, Tomasz CencekAbstractTrichinella nematodes still circulate in various hosts in both domestic and sylvatic environments. Recently, in Europe, the transmission of Trichinella spp. to humans has been attributed more to wild animals than to domestic animals. However, domestic animals could still be a source of human infections in some regions. Therefore, our aim was to determine the species composition of Trichinella and the prevalence and intensity of infections in animal populations from the domestic cycle, namely pigs (Sus scrofa f. domestica); the synantropic cycle, in the form of rats (Rattus norvegicus); and the sylvatic cycle, namely wild boars (Sus scrofa) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), in Poland.The findings showed that the nematode prevalence in pigs (0.0002%) and wild boars (0.3%) was lower than it was in red foxes (4%). A very high prevalence was found in rats (23.3%), but it must be emphasized that the investigated rat samples were collected from farms where pigs were infected with Trichinella spp. The mean larval burden was found to be higher in wild boars and pigs (11.48 lpg and 10.19 lpg) than in red foxes and rats (4.09 and 2.30).Trichinella spiralis was the predominant species in pigs (98.6%), wild boars (77.3%) and rats (100%), wh...
Source: Veterinary Parasitology - Category: Veterinary Research Source Type: research