Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T05:11:56.249Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trichinella papuae and Trichinella zimbabwensis induce infection in experimentally infected varans, caimans, pythons and turtles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2004

E. POZIO ,
G. MARUCCI ,
A. CASULLI ,
L. SACCHI ,
S. MUKARATIRWA ,
C. M. FOGGIN  and
G. LA ROSA
E. POZIO
Affiliation:
Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immunomediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 0061 Rome, Italy
G. MARUCCI
Affiliation:
Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immunomediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 0061 Rome, Italy
A. CASULLI
Affiliation:
Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immunomediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 0061 Rome, Italy
L. SACCHI
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Biology, University of Pavia, Piazza Botta 9, 27100 Pavia, Italy
S. MUKARATIRWA
Affiliation:
Faculty of Veterinary Science, Department of Paraclinical Veterinary Studies, P.O. Box MP167 Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe
C. M. FOGGIN
Affiliation:
Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, P.O. Box CY 551 Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe
G. LA ROSA
Affiliation:
Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immunomediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 0061 Rome, Italy
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The discovery of Trichinella zimbabwensis in farm crocodiles of Zimbabwe has opened up a new frontier in the epidemiology of the Trichinella genus. The objective of the present study was to investigate the infectivity of encapsulated species (T. spiralis, T. nativa, T. britovi, T. murrelli and T. nelsoni) and non-encapsulated species (T. pseudospiralis, T. papuae and T. zimbabwensis) in caimans (Caiman crocodilus), varans (Varanus exanthematicus), pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) and turtles (Pelomedusa subrufa) raised at their natural temperature range (26–32 °C). Mice and chickens were used as controls. At 6 days post-infection (p.i.), adult worms were detected in the small intestine of reptiles infected with T. papuae and T. zimbabwensis, of chickens infected with T. pseudospiralis and of mice infected with all encapsulated and non-encapsulated species. At 60 days p.i., T. papuae and T. zimbabwensis adult worms were collected from the intestine of varans and caimans and larvae from muscles of the four reptile species, T. pseudospiralis larvae from muscles of chickens, and larvae of all Trichinella species from mouse muscles. The highest reproductive capacity index of both T. papuae and T. zimbabwensis was observed in varans. The results show that T. papuae and T. zimbabwensis are able to complete their entire life-cycle in both poikilothermic and homoiothermic animals.

Keywords

Trichinella papuaeTrichinella zimbabwensisreptilecaimanvaranpythonturtlebody temperatureexperimental infection
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 128 , Issue 3 , March 2004 , pp. 333 - 342
Copyright
2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

ASATRIAN, A., MOVSESSIAN, S. & GEVORKIAN, A. (2000). Experimental infection of some reptiles with T. spiralis and T. pseudospiralis. Abstract Book, p. 154, The 10th International Conference on Trichinellosis, 20–24 August, Fontainebleau, France.
BLAIR, L. S. (1983). Laboratory Techniques. In Trichinella and Trichinosis (ed. Campbell, W. C.), pp. 563–570. Plenum Press, New York and London.CrossRef
CAMPBELL, C. W. (1988). Trichinosis revisited, another look at modes of transmission. Parasitology Today 4, 83–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CRISTEA, G. & PERIAN, A. (1999). Experimental infestation with Trichinella larvae in vipers. Revista Romana de Parasitologia 9, 45.Google Scholar
DESPOMMIER, D. D. (1998). How does Trichinella spiralis make itself at home? Parasitology Today 14, 318–323.Google Scholar
GUEVARA POZO, D. & CONTRERAS-PENA, J. A. (1966). Trichinella spiralis (Owen 1835), experiencias de infestacion en diversos vertebratos. Revista Iberica de Parasitologia 26, 239–288.Google Scholar
JORDAN, C. A. (1964). Experimentally trichinized Texas horned lizards. Journal of Parasitology 50, 24.Google Scholar
KAPEL, C. M., WEBSTER, P., BJORN, H., MURRELL, K. D. & NANSEN, P. (1998). Evaluation of the infectivity of Trichinella spp. for reptiles (Caiman sclerops). International Journal for Parasitology 28, 1935–1937.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LA ROSA, G., MARUCCI, G. & POZIO, E. (2004). Biochemical analysis of encapsulated and non-encapsulated species of Trichinella (Nematoda, Trichinellidae) from cold- and warm-blooded animals reveals a high genetic divergence in the genus. Parasitology Research (in press).Google Scholar
MORETTI, A., PIERGILI FIORETTI, D., PASQUALI, P., MECHELLI, L., ROSSODIVITA, M. E. & POLIDORI, G. A. (1997). Experimental infection of fish with Trichinella britovi: biological evaluations. In Trichinellosis (ed. Ortega Pierres, G., Gamble, R., Van Knapen, F. & Wakelin, D.), pp. 135–142. Centro de Investigacion y Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico, D.F. Mexico.
OWEN, R. (1835). Description of a microscopic entozoon infesting the muscles of the human body. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 1, 315–323.Google Scholar
POZIO, E. (1987). Isoenzymatic typing of 23 Trichinella isolates. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 38, 111–116.Google Scholar
POZIO, E. (2001). New patterns of Trichinella infections. Veterinary Parasitology 98, 133–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
POZIO, E., FOGGIN, C. M., MARUCCI, G., LA ROSA, G., SACCHI, L., CORONA, S., ROSSI, P. & MUKARATIRWA, S. (2002). Trichinella zimbabwensis n.sp. (Nematoda), a new non-encapsulated species from crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) in Zimbabwe also infecting mammals. International Journal for Parasitology 32, 1787–1799.Google Scholar
POZIO, E. & LA ROSA, G. (2003). PCR-derived methods for the identification of Trichinella parasites from animal and human samples. Methods in Molecular Biology 216, 299–309.Google Scholar
POZIO, E., OWEN, I. L., LA ROSA, G., SACCHI, L., ROSSI, P. & CORONA, S. (1999). Trichinella papuae n.sp. (Nematoda), a new non-encapsulated species from domestic and sylvatic swine of Papua New Guinea. International Journal for Parasitology 29, 1825–1839.Google Scholar
SHAIKENOV, B. S. (1980). Spontaneous infection of birds with Trichinella pseudospiralis Garkavi, 1972. Folia Parasitolica 27, 227–230.Google Scholar
ZARLENGA, D. S., CHUTE, M. B., MARTIN, A. & KAPEL, M. O. (1999). A single multiplex PCR for unequivocal differentiation of six distinct genotypes of Trichinella and three geographical genotypes of Trichinella pseudospiralis. International Journal for Parasitology 29, 1859–1867.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ZARLENGA, D. S., LA ROSA, G., POZIO, E. & ROSENTHAL, B. (2004). Identification and classification within the genus Trichinella, with special emphasis on non-encapsulated species. Veterinary Parasitology (in press).Google Scholar