Trichinella pseudospiralis in sedentary night-birds of prey from Central Italy. |
| |
Authors: | E Pozio M Goffredo R Fico G La Rosa |
| |
Institution: | Laboratory of Parasitology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. |
| |
Abstract: | Trichinella pseudospiralis has been isolated from carnivorous and carrion-feeding mammals and birds in Eastern Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America, suggesting its cosmopolitan distribution. We conducted a survey to detect this parasite in raptorial and carrion-feeding birds in Italy, examining muscles from 205 animals by artificial digestion. We isolated from the breast muscle 1 larva from a tawny owl (Strix aluco) and 2 larvae from a little owl (Athene noctua). These larvae were identified as T. pseudospiralis by the polymerase chain reaction with a specific primer set. This is the first documented report of T. pseudospiralis in animals in Western Europe. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|