Xth ICT, August 2000

Trichinellosis in farmed wild boar: meat inspection findings and seroprevalence

¹ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki.
² National Veterinary and Food Research Institute, Helsink, Finland.

^* Correspondence : A. Sukura. Tel.: +358-9-19149526 - Fax : +358-9-19149799. E-mail : antti.sukura@helsinki.fi

Abstract

A reflection of highly prevalent endemic wildlife trichinellosis is seen in wild boar farming in Finland. During the last five years, 0.7 % (15/2265) of wild boars undergoing official meat inspection have been determined to be Trichinella-positive. These findings originate from six different farms. In Finland, T. spiralis and T. pseudospiralis have been discovered in meat inspection of wild boars. ELISA showed 11 out of 9 9 serum samples (11 %) as having specific antibodies for T. spiralis crude antigen. Positive samples were from three out of the thirteen farms from which the sera were available. Most of the positive serum samples (8/11) originated from a farm where trichinellosis was also revealed in meat inspection, the other two seropositive farms were without previous Trichinella records. Over the last few decades, no reports have been made of human trichinellosis acquired in Finland. This indicates both efficient meat inspection as well as public awareness of high-risk foodstuff.