TRICHINELLOSIS SCENARIOS IN PEOPLE, DOMESTIC AND WILD ANIMALS IN SOUTH AMERICA

RIBICICH, M.; FARIÑA, F; ARONOWICZ, T; ERCOLE, M; BESSI, C; PASQUALETTI, M

Conferencia; 15th International Conference on Trichinellosis; 2019

In America, such as in other continents, Trichinella infection is a health problem for humans and a negative impact for the pork meat market, generated by the apprehensiveness of people to become infected with the parasite. In South America, human infection with Trichinella has been documented in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador. Published data of samples of pigs indicated that 13294 from Brazil, 1967 from Colombia and 185 from Peru were negative for artificial digestion or ELISA tests. During the period 2012/2018, in Argentina, suspected cases of human trichinellosis were 6690, however only 2386 were confirmed. The provinces more affected were: Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Cordoba and La Pampa, also, human cases were detected in southern and eastern provinces, where the infection has been historically rare, such as Mendoza and Corrientes. In Chile, 258 human cases of trichinellosis were confirmed in the period 2005/2015, where the largest number of positive samples for Trichinella spp (29.5%) was detected in the Metropolitan district (center of the country) and 17.4 % in The Lakes district (southern Chile), while the most affected were people between 30 - 49 years of age ( 40.1%). There was an increase of human cases during autumn and winter in Argentina due to the consumption of raw pork and wild boar preparations, and in winter and spring in Chile, which was associated to the Mapuche New Year and National Holidays Celebrations. The serological prevalence in Bolivia was 3 % in humans and 13.4 % in swine, while in Ecuador 5.72 % in free roaming pigs. Four Trichinella species were identified in South America: T. spiralis, T. patagoniensis, T. pseudospiralis and T. britovi. T. spiralis is the most prevalent species. T. patagoniensis was found in natural conditions in cougars from Argentina, but nevertheless under experimental conditions, was able to infect the muscles of cats and guinea pigs. T. spiralis was identified in a South American sea lion (Otaria flavescens) from Patagonia, Argentina, for the first time in the region. With regard to animal species used as food in the continent, the most infected were pigs, wild boars and cougars, while armadillo and peccary showed very low level (0.04- 0.1) of larvae per gram (lpg). Considering the increase of the guinea pig meat market in America and wild boar from hunting, which add to the pork market or other wild animals it is necessary to improve regulations and diagnosis in meat before consumption, to avoid the transmission of this zoonoses to people.This work was supported by Universidad de Buenos Aires, Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica Subsidio UBACyT 20020130100336BA and UBACyT 220170200331BA and Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, FONCyT Subsidio PICT-2015-2350 and PICT-2015-3469.