Molecular identification of Trichinella britovi in martens (Martes martes) and badgers (Meles meles); new host records in Poland

Abstract

Trichinella larvae were detected in a marten (Martes martes) and a badger (Meles meles) in Poland. The animals were found dead following car accidents. All examined animals derived from the Mazurian Lake district, north-east Poland, near the village Kosewo Górne where Trichinella infection were earlier confirmed in wildlife; red foxes and wild boars. The muscle samples were examined by artificial pepsin-HCl digestion method. The parasites were identified as Trichinella britovi by multiplex polymerase chain reaction method. Larvae were found in two out of three martens and one out of seven examined badgers. This is the first report of the identification of Trichinella britovi larvae from martens and badgers in Poland.

An invasive species as an additional parasite reservoir: Trichinella in introduced American mink (Neovison vison)

“…Trichinellosis in Poland is present among domestic and wild animals, with T. britovi being the dominant species in red foxes and T. spiralis the dominant species in wild boars and domestic pigs (Cabaj et al, 2004;Moskwa et al, 2012;Bilska-Zając et al, 2013). In the red fox, Trichinella pseudospiralis was detected in the southern part and T. nativa in the north-eastern part of Poland Moskwa et al, 2013).…”

“…was also highly prevalent among martens in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (Malakauskas et al, 2007). Moskwa et al (2012) published the first report of the presence of T. britovi in pine martens (Martes martes) and badgers from northeastern Poland. In Romania, T. spiralis was recently confirmed in stoat (Mustela erminea) and stone marten from the Danube Delta area (Oltean et al, 2014).…”

Update of the helminth fauna in Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in Poland

“…T. britovi was detected also in lynx from Slovakia (Hurníková et al 2009 ) and in 27% of Swiss lynx (Frey et al 2009 ). This species is also prevalent in other wild mammals in Poland, infecting mainly red fox (Cabaj et al 2000 ; Cabaj et al 2004 ), but also found in wild boar ( Sus scrofa L., 1758) (Bilska-Zając et al 2013 ), wolf (Cabaj 2006 ), martens and badger (Moskwa et al 2012 ), and American mink ( Neovison vison Schreber, 1777) (Hurníková et al 2016 ).…”

First report of Trichinella pseudospiralis in Poland, in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes)

“…It was found to be highly prevalent in wild animals, most of which were carnivores, e.g. foxes and wolves, but omnivores, such as badgers and martens, were also affected (Cabaj et al 2000(Cabaj et al , 2004Moskwa et al 2012).…”