Xth ICT, August 2000

Sylvatic trichinellosis in Texas

¹ Department of Pathology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, 3601 4 th Street, Lubbock, Texas 79430, USA.
² Laboratory of Parasitology, Instituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.

^* Correspondence: E. Pozio. Tel.: + 390649902304 - Fax : + 390649387065 - e-mail : pozio@iss.it

Abstract

There are no published reports of domestic or sylvatic trichinellosis in Texas. The aim of the present survey was to determine the presence of Trichinella species in selected representative species of potential wildlife reservoirs in southern Texas. In 1998-99, tongues of 211 wild mammals were collected in southern Texas: 154 coyotes (Canis latrans), three bobcats (Lynx rufus), 32 racoons (Procyon lotor), 1 3 opossum (Didelphis marsupialis), four ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) and five wild boars (Sus scrofa). Presence of Trichinella sp. larvae was investigated by artificial digestion and larvae of positive samples were identified at the species level by a multiple-polymerase chain reaction analysis. Nine (5.8 %) coyotes had trichinellosis ; in the muscles of seven of these coyotes, the larvae were identified as Trichinella murrelli. This is the first report of sylvatic trichinellosis in Texas.