Trichinella infections in different host species of an endemic district of Serbia

The Wolf (Canis lupus) as an Indicator Species for the Sylvatic Trichinella Cycle in the Central Balkans

“…All larvae were identified as T. britovi. This finding is in agreement with reports from Serbia, which identified only this species in a total of seven wolves (Cvetković et al 2011;Ž ivojinović et al 2013), and a Europe-wide investigation that showed that 98% of Trichinella infections in wolves were due to T. britovi and only 2% to T. spiralis ). However, in neighboring Croatia, even 10% of T. spiralis were reported among a small sample of Trichinella-positive wolves (n521; Beck et al 2009).…”

“…However, in neighboring Croatia, even 10% of T. spiralis were reported among a small sample of Trichinella-positive wolves (n521; Beck et al 2009). The absence of T. spiralis in our study is unexpected, as this species has been observed in wild boars, red foxes, wild cats (Felis sylvestris), and golden jackals (Canis aureus) in Serbia (Cvetković et al 2011;Ž ivojinović et al 2013), some of which were collected in the same localities as the wolves in this study. This may in part be attributed to the majority of the sample coming from mountainous, less-inhabited areas that are remote from pig farms.…”

“…The red fox is an indicator species for the assessment of sylvatic trichinellosis in Europe, but has not been investigated systematically in Serbia. Data from a few animals in a small area show a prevalence of Trichinella infection of 5% (1/20) and 12.3% (7/57), respectively (Petrović et al 2012;Ž ivojinović et al 2013). The high prevalence of Trichinella infection we found suggests that wolves are important in the sylvatic cycle of T. britovi in the Central Balkans.…”

“…The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the wolf as vulnerable in Serbia (Savić et al 1995); national evaluations have not been performed in Macedonia and B&H. However, little is known about Trichinella spp. infection in wildlife in this area, especially in wolves, of which only a few have been examined (Cvetković et al 2011;Ž ivojinović et al 2013). To assess the importance of wolves as a reservoir of sylvatic trichinellosis in the Central Balkans, we studied the prevalence, species identification, and spatial distribution of Trichinella spp.…”

Characteristic band pattern in western blots for specific detection of anti-Trichinella spiralis antibodies in different host species

“…Infection initiates a strong humoral immune response both in humans and animals that can be recognized by specifi c antibody detection in the sera or body fl uids (5). The only reported Trichinella species isolated from domestic swine was Trichinella spiralis (T. spiralis) [5][6][7][8], while T. spiralis and Trichinella britovi were found in wildlife [5,9,10]. As reported by Cuperlovic et al [7,11], trichinellosis is the most serious foodborne parasitic disease in Serbia.…”