<abstract xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Trichinellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by nematodes of the genus Trichinella. Humans, who are the final hosts, acquire the infection by eating raw or undercooked meat of different animal origin. Trichinella spiralis is an encapsulated species that infects mammals and is widely distributed in different continents. In Argentina, this parasite has been reported in the domestic cycle that includes pigs and synanthropic hosts (mainly rats and some carnivores). This is the first report of T. spiralis in the opossums Didelphis albiventris and Lutreolina crassicaudata in Argentina, and the first report in opossums in South America. In this survey, Trichinella larvae were detected by enzymatic digestion in three D. albiventris and one L. crassicaudata captured on pig and dairy farms located in the northeast of Buenos Aires province. The microscopic examination of the 32 larvae isolated presented the diagnostic characteristic of the genus Trichinella. Two larvae isolated from two D. albiventris and one from L. crassicaudata were identified as T. spiralis by nested multiplex PCR and confirmed by sequencing. Further research to determine the burdens of T. spiralis in opossums may contribute to a better understanding of the risk of T. spiralis transmission to the synanthropic populations.</p></abstract>

Trichinellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by nematodes of the genus Trichinella. Humans, who are the final hosts, acquire the infection by eating raw or undercooked meat of different animal origin. Trichinella spiralis is an encapsulated species that infects mammals and is widely distributed in different continents. In Argentina, this parasite has been reported in the domestic cycle that includes pigs and synanthropic hosts (mainly rats and some carnivores). This is the first report of T. spiralis in the opossums Didelphis albiventris and Lutreolina crassicaudata in Argentina, and the first report in opossums in South America. In this survey, Trichinella larvae were detected by enzymatic digestion in three D. albiventris and one L. crassicaudata captured on pig and dairy farms located in the northeast of Buenos Aires province. The microscopic examination of the 32 larvae isolated presented the diagnostic characteristic of the genus Trichinella. Two larvae isolated from two D. albiventris and one from L. crassicaudata were identified as T. spiralis by nested multiplex PCR and confirmed by sequencing. Further research to determine the burdens of T. spiralis in opossums may contribute to a better understanding of the risk of T. spiralis transmission to the synanthropic populations.

First report of Trichinella spiralis from the white-eared (Didelphis albiventris) and the thick-tailed opossum (Lutreolina crassicaudata) in central Argentina

Instituto de Patobiología, CICVyA, Area de Parasitología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA Castelar), Buenos Aires, Argentina

Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires and Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires (IEGEBA), UBA-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Centro Nacional de Diagnóstico e Investigación en Endemo-Epidemias ANLIS, Ministerio de Salud de la Nación and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

Helminthologia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Trichinellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by nematodes of the genus Trichinella. Humans, who are the final hosts, acquire the infection by eating raw or...

First report of Trichinella spiralis from the white-eared (Didelphis albiventris) and the thick-tailed opossum (Lutreolina crassicaudata) in central Argentina

Published Online: Sep 17, 2014

Page range: 198 - 202

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11687-014-0229-4

Keywords
Trichinella spiralis, opossum, Didelphis albiventris, Lutreolina crassicaudata, Argentina

© 2014 Institute of Parasitology, SAS, Košice, Slovakia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

First report of Trichinella spiralis from the white-eared (Didelphis albiventris) and the thick-tailed opossum (Lutreolina crassicaudata) in central Argentina

Published Online: Sep 17, 2014

Page range: 198 - 202

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11687-014-0229-4

KeywordsTrichinella spiralis, opossum, Didelphis albiventris, Lutreolina crassicaudata, Argentina

© 2014 Institute of Parasitology, SAS, Košice, Slovakia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Trichinella spiralis, opossum, Didelphis albiventris, Lutreolina crassicaudata, Argentina