Experimental Trichinellosis in Reindeer

Abstract

Six female reindeer calves were inoculated intraruminally with various doses of Trichinella muscle larvae. Four calves were inoculated with T. nativa, receiving 15,000 (n = 1), 5,000 (1), and 2,500 (2) larvae each. Two calves were inoculated with 5,000 T. spiralis larvae each. Blood samples were collected twice per week for total white blood cell (WBC) and differential counts and for serology using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on T. spiralis excretory-secretory antigen. On day 56, the calves were slaughtered and muscle samples were examined according to the standard digestion method for Trichinella larvae. Blood samples were also collected twice a week from 4 uninoculated, but otherwise similar, reindeer calves corralled separately. Both the total WBC and eosinophil counts of the inoculated animals were, on average, higher during the experimental period. All the inoculated calves seroconverted, showing an increase in the optical density (OD) in the ELISA starting between day 23 and day 27 postinoculation. Very few muscle larvae (<0.08 larvae/g [lpg]) were to be found from the animals inoculated with T. nativa, but about 4 and 6 lpg were recovered from the masseter muscles of those inoculated with T. spiralis.

Distribution of muscle larvae and antibody dynamics in goats experimentally infected with Trichinella spiralis

“…in sheep, but in that study, they used Trichinella pseudospiralis with a very high dose of larvae per animal. Oksanen et al (2000) reported a serological response from the 23rd day p.i. in reindeers experimentally infected with T. spiralis and Trichinella nativa.…”

“…In Europe, no outbreak of human trichinellosis has been attributed to the consumption of ruminant meat, but in Asia, sheep, cow, and wild moufflon (Ovis musimon) are occasional sources of infection (Zhu and Niu 1988;Liu and Boireau 2002). There have been reports on the following studies in experimentally infected, nonspecific ruminant hosts: (Smith and Snowdon 1988;Smith et al 1989;Tomašovičová et al 1991;Pajerský et al 1996;Reina et al 1996;Oksanen et al 2000;Theodoropoulos et al 2000).…”

Persistence of Trichinella spiralisin Rat Carcasses Experimentally Mixed in Different Feed

“…It is a well-known fact that Trichinella larvae are not evenly distributed throughout the skeletal musculature [1,9,21,20,14]. Obviously, hind leg muscles are the predilection of trichinellosis in rats, and the lower lpg yield in minced meat indicates the dilution effect of other musculature and tissue.…”