Trichinella spp. imported with live animals and meat

Trichinella and trichinellosis in Europe

“…Of the eight Trichinella taxa not present in Europe (Pozio and Zarlenga, 2013;Korhonen et al, 2016), T. murrelli circulating among wild carnivores of North America, was the only species imported from the USA (Connecticut) into Europe (France) by a horse carcass in 1985, where it was the source of infection for 431 patients, two of whom died (Ancelle et al, 1988;Pozio, 2015). Three classes of vertebrates are known to act as hosts; mammals, birds and reptiles.…”

“…However, in the last 20 years, there have been only eight documented reports of pig meat illegally imported in personal baggage into another country where it was the source of trichinellosis in humans or it was, by chance, tested for Trichinella sp. larvae (Pozio, 2015). Trichinella sp.…”

“…There is no report on the detection of Trichinella sp. infected pigs originating from the international pig trade (Pozio, 2015).…”

“…From 1975 to 2005, when the first and the last outbreaks of trichinellosis caused by horse meat consumption were documented, 15 human outbreaks of trichinellosis have been documented in France (eight outbreaks, 2296 human infections with five deaths in 1985) and Italy (seven outbreaks, 1038 human infections) resulting from the consumption of horsemeat imported from Eastern European countries (Former Yugoslavia, Poland, Serbia, Romania) or from North America (Pozio, 2015). Between 1988 and 2008, Trichinella larvae (mostly T. spiralis) were detected in 12 horses imported to France and Italy from Eastern European countries (Poland, Romania, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia) out of about 250,000 tested horses per year (Pozio, 2015). Since 2006 in the European Union, it is mandatory to test fresh horsemeat produced in or imported to the EU according to the Commission Regulation 2075(European Union, 2005.…”

Vaccines againstTrichinella spiralis: Progress, challenges and future prospects

“…Humans can acquire infection with T. spiralis through ingestion of raw or undercooked meat from domestic (pigs, horses) and wild animals (wild pigs, bears) that contaminated with the muscle larvae (ML) of T. Spiralis (Rostami, Gamble, Dupouy‐Camet, Khazan, & Bruschi, ). Trichinellosis poses a worldwide public risk of human and animal health (Cui, Wang, & Xu, ; Pozio, ). It is estimated that as many as 11 million of people are chronically infected with T. spiralis all over the world (Murrell & Pozio, ), and human trichinellosis has been considered a reemerging disease in many parts of the world (Cuperlovic, Djordjevic, & Pavlovic, ).…”