Trichinella spiralis natural infection in Otaria flasvecens from Patagonia, Agentina

KRIVOKAPICH S J; VARELA E A; BESSI C; FARIÑA F; DANERI G A; ERCOLE M; RIBICICH M M; PASQUALETTI M; GATTI G A; LUCERO S; WINTER M

Cluj Napoca

Conferencia; 15 International Conference on Trichinellosis; 2019

In Argentina trichinellosis is an endemic disease representing an important risk for human health due to its high rates of morbidity, mainly transmitted by the consumption of raw or undercooked pork. Nevertheless, the discovery of new Trichinella species have led to a change in the study of the epidemiology of the disease with the addition of new sources of infection. Moreover, Trichinella infection has been detected in a wide range of marine mammals around the world. Until the present time, Trichinella spp. infection has not been detected in marine mammals of South America. Four South American sea lions were found dead in the rookeries of Caleta de los Loros (Lat. 41° 00′ S; 64° 12′ W; n = 1), Promontorio Belén (Lat. 41° 09′ S; Long. 63° 48′ O; n = 1) and Punta Bermeja (Lat. 41° 09′ S; Long. 63° 09′ O; n = 2) in Rio Negro, Argentina. Muscle samples were taken from the tongue and diaphragm and were stored at 4 °C until examination at the Parasitology Laboratory of the Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad de Buenos Aires. The total muscle samples from each animal were analyzed by artificial digestión. Identification at the species level was made by nested multiplex chain reaction (nested multiplex PCR) based on nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences, using six pair of primers. Trichinella spp. larvae were found in one of the four South American sea lions. Based on their morphology, the recovered larvae were suggestive of Trichinella spp. Trichinella larvae generated a fragment of 173 bp corresponding to T. spiralis expansion segment V (ESV) region of the ribosomal DNA.This is the first report of a Trichinella species infecting marine mammals from South America. The inclusion of Otaria flavescens in the wide range of Trichinella hosts adds new questions to the epidemiology of Trichinella in marine animals.We thank the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable (SAyDS) of Río Negro Province for giving us permission to get sample from the rookeries.This work was supported by Universidad de Buenos Aires, Secretaria de Ciencia y Técnica Subsidio UBACyT20020130100336BA and Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, FONCyT Subsidio PICT-2015-2350