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Title: ATTEMPTS TO ERADICATE TRICHINELLOSIS FROM A WILD BOAR POPULATION IN A PRIVATE GAME PARK (USA)

Author
item WORLEY DAVID E - MONTANA ST UNIV, BOZEMAN
item SEESEE FLOYD M - MONTANA ST UNIV, BOSEMAN
item ZARLENGA DANTE S - 1265-15-00
item MURRELL K DARWIN - 1201-00-00

Submitted to: Trichinellosis International Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/7/1993
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A project to monitor Trichinella infection levels in European wild boars in a private game park in northeastern U.S.A. was started in 1986. A standard peptic digestion technique was used to examine samples of tongue or skeletal muscle from hunter-killed animals for the presence and concentration of encysted tissue larvae. A baseline trichinellosis rate of 15% existed in the boar population prior to implementation of control measures. Because of the risk of human exposure via consumption of infected meat, efforts to curtail T. spiralis transmission by eliminating scavenging by boars on offal from field-dressed animals was implemented in 1987. Incineration of viscera and carcass scraps from hunter-killed animals was instituted to reduce access of boars to these principal suspected sources of exposure. Although no reduction in infection rate was noted during the first 2 years of the program, densities of tissue larvae decreased by almost 55% during the period. By the third year, mean prevalence of T. spiralis had decreased to 12%, with an infection intensity of 50.3 larvae/g. (1.p.g.). A year later, prevalence was essentially unchanged at 11.2% but intensity was substantially lower at 16.9 1.p.g. By the fifth year, a marked decline in prevalence to 6.9% had occurred. Although infection intensity remained high (101.8 1.p.g.), this value was skewed by an abnormally high concentration of trichinae in 1 animal (1721 1.p.g.). In the sixth year, the pattern of decreasing Trichinella prevalence and intensity continued, with 3.6% of 361 boars testing positive for muscle larvae, with an average concentration of 6.01 1.p.g.