In this review, we describe the current knowledge on the systematics, ecology and epidemiology of Trichinella and trichinellosis, and the impact of recent research discoveries on the understanding of this zoonosis The epidemiology of this zoonosis has experienced important changes over the past two decades, especially with regard to the importance of the sylvatic cycle and the sylvatic species Outbreaks of trichinellosis due to Trichinella spiralis from domestic swine, while still frequent, increasingly are caused by other Trichinella spp infecting hosts such as horses, dogs, wild boars, bears and walruses The latter revelations have occurred as a result of a series of discoveries on the systematics of Trichinella spp, facilitated by new molecular tools As a consequence, the genus is now composed of two clades, an encapsulated group (five species and three genotypes) and a non-encapsulated one (three species) This has sparked renewed investigations on the host range of these parasites and their epidemiological features Most dramatic, perhaps, is the recognition that reptiles may also serve as hosts for certain species This new knowledge base, in addition to having an important relevance for food safety policies and protection measures, is raising important questions on the phylogeny of Trichinella spp, the ecological characteristics of the species and their geographic histories Answers to these questions may have great value for the understanding of the evolutionary biology for other parasitic helminths, and may increase the value of this genus as models for research on parasitism in general

Systematics and epidemiology of trichinella.

A multiplex PCR for unequivocal differentiation of all encapsulated and non-encapsulated genotypes of Trichinella

How Does Trichinella spiralis Make Itself at Home

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3259&context=usdaarsfacpub

New pieces of the Trichinella puzzle.

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3257&context=usdaarsfacpub

Recent advances on the taxonomy, systematics and epidemiology of Trichinella

Eight taxa have recently been proposed as being encompassed by the genus Trichinella on the basis of allozyme and biological data. In this paper we show that an analogous 8 taxon structure for this genus results from the random amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPDs). Five 10-mer or 20-mer primers were used under different polymerase chain reaction (PCR) conditions to produce multiband RAPD fingerprints from muscle larvae of 40 isolates of Trichinella spp. The resulting RAPD data were analysed following the numerical taxonomic approach, and the resulting classification was compared to that derived from allozyme data. The agreement found between allozymes and RAPDs, while supporting the polyspecific structure of the genus Trichinella, confirms the potential of RAPDs as a tool for the detection of cryptic species. The selected primers were tested on individual muscle larvae in an attempt to standardize a RAPD assay for the routine identification of the 8 taxa of Trichinella. Only 1 of the 5 primers yielded reproducible fingerprints from the single larvae. Using this primer, the 5 species and the 3 other taxa of the genus Trichinella can be identified in a single assay without the need for massive in vivo parasite production.

L. Tasciotti

Papers

Random amplified polymorphic DNA fingerprints of the eight taxa of Trichinella and their comparison with allozyme analysis.