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Title: DETECTION OF TRICHINELLA SPIRALIS MUSCLE LARVAE IN NATURALLY INFECTED HORSES

Author
item CAMILA ARRIAGA - INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE
item LILIAN YEPEZ-MUL - INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE
item NOEMI VIVEROS - INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE
item LUIS ARTURO ADAM - INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE
item Zarlenga, Dante
item LICHTENFELS RALP - 1265-15-00
item ERNESTO BENITEZ - INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE
item ORTEGA-PIERRES M - INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE

Submitted to: Journal of Parasitology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/10/1995
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: In recent years, horsemeat has been postulated as a source of Trichinella infection after trichinellosis outbreaks in France and Italy, which resulted in hundreds of infected people and several deaths, was traced to horsemeat as the most probable cause. However, to date, Trichinella larvae have been detected in only 3 of several thousand horse samples analyzed. Furthermore, in these reports characterization of the larvae was not performed. Though the natural mode of Trichinella infection in herbivorous animals like horses is not well understood several groups have demonstrated that horses can be experimentally-infected. In this work we describe the first complete identification and characterization of T. spiralis muscle larvae from naturally-infected horses taken from rural areas in Mexico. The larvae were characterized by morphological criteria or by the polymerase chain reaction. This research verified earlier hypotheses that horsemeat can be a source of human trichinellosis. II+.

Technical Abstract: Human trichinellosis outbreaks related to horsemeat consumption have been demonstrated in France and Italy in recent years. In order to determine if this parasitosis is found in horses taken to a slaughter house in the State of Mexico, 30 diaphragm muscle tissue samples (22 to 37 gr) were examined by artificial digestion. Four of these samples had larvae that were characterized as Trichinella sp. by morphological criteria or as T. spiralis by the polymerase chain reaction.