Trichinellosis in wild fauna (synanthropic and sylvatic) from Argentina.

RIBICICH, M., BOLPE, J., SCIALFFA, E., CARDILLO, N., DIAZ PEREZ, P., BETTI, A., TELLECHEA, F., CAMBIAGGI HOLZMAN, ML., ROSA, A

Croacia

Congreso; XII International Conference on Trichinellosis; 2007

International Commission for Trichinellosis

In recent years, natural infection with Trichinella has been described in more than 150 mammalians species. Argentina has few reports involving Trichinella infection in wild animals. In this study, muscle tissue was obtained from wild animals with the aim of evaluating the presence of Trichinella. A total of 115 muscles samples were collected from wild animals and these samples were used to determine the presence of Trichinella larvae by artificial digestion. These muscle samples of 12 wild animal species belonging to: 14 opossums (Didelphis albiventris), 6 armadillos (Chaetophractus villosus), 9 capybaras (Hydrocaeris hydrocaeris), 1 puma (Puma concolor), 1 grey fox (Lycalopex gymnocercus), 6 coypus (Myocastor coypus), 6 skunks (Conepatus chinga), 2 ferrets (Galictis cuja), 52 rats (Rattus norvegicus), 6 mice (Mus musculus), 9 wild boars (Sus scrofa), and 3 wild cats (Felis geoffroyi). Trichinella infection was detected in 1 puma, with 2 larvae per 1 gram (LPG), 1 wild boar, with 420 LPG and 9 rats with a range between 0.1 to 54.8 LPG. The parasite had been identified not only in synanthropic animals (Rattus norvegicus) with a high prevalence (17.3%), but also in sylvatic fauna (wild boar and puma) with a prevalence of 3.17%. The presence of Trichinella infection among wild animal populations suggests a wild cycle of transmission in Argentina with the risk to be as a reservoir for humans and domestic animal. The evidence of high prevalence in rats emphasize the needs of improve pigs breeding mainly in small individual farms without adequate technology, quality feeds and veterinary services