Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #420788
Research Project: Foodborne Parasites and their Impact on Food Safety

Location: Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory

Title: High prevalence of Sarcocystis and Trichinella infections in skeletal muscles of gray wolves (Canis lupus arctos) from Alaska, USA

Author
item Dubey, Jitender
item GUPTA, ADITYA - Orise Fellow
item Rosenthal, Benjamin
item BECKMAN, KIMBERLEE - Alaska Department Of Fish And Game

Submitted to: Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/28/2025
Publication Date: 1/31/2025
Citation: Dubey, J.P., Gupta, A., Rosenthal, B.M., Beckman, K. 2025. High prevalence of Sarcocystis and Trichinella infections in skeletal muscles of gray wolves (Canis lupus arctos) from Alaska, USA. Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports. 58. Article e101207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vprsr.2025.101207.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vprsr.2025.101207

Interpretive Summary: Wild carnivores can act as reservoirs of certain parasitic infections transmissible to humans and animals. Sarcocystis (a single celled) and Trichinella (a metazoan) encyst in muscles of carnivores and are infectious to people and animals when ingested raw. Little is known of these parasites in arctic zones of USA. Here, the authors found high prevalence of these parasites in muscles of wolves from Alaska. The finding of Trichinella in wolves is public health interest because the arctic strains of Trichinella are not killed by freezing and in the past outbreaks of trichinellosis have been linked to ingestion of frozen but raw wild animal meat from Alaska. These findings will be of interest to wildlife biologists, veterinarians, and parasitologists.

Technical Abstract: Although cysts of Sarcocystis spp. (sarcocysts) are considered uncommon in muscles of canids, we identified mature sarcocysts in tongues of 20 (40.8%) of 49 gray wolves (Canis lupus arctos) from Alaska, USA. Two kinds of sarcocysts (thin-walled and thick-walled) were detected; based on the appearance of the sarcocyst wall, they resembled Sarcocystis caninum and Sarcocystis svanai of the domestic dog (Canis familiaris). Thick-walled cysts were identified in 18 of 49 wolves and thin-walled were seen in three of 49 wolves. Molecularly, Sarcocystis species were characterized using 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, cox1 and rpoB genetic markers. All these markers showed >99% identity to either of S. caninum or S. svanai described previously from the domestic dog. Trichinella spp. larvae were found in histological sections of tongues of 7 (14.2%) of 49 gray wolves.