Survival of Trichinella papuae muscle larvae in a pig carcass maintained under simulated natural conditions in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

AbstractIn Papua New Guinea, Trichinella papuae, a non-encapsulated species, is circulating among wild and domestic pigs and saltwater crocodiles. Since an important phase of the life cycle of nematodes of the genus Trichinella is the time of survival of infective larvae in decaying muscle tissues of the hosts, the carcass of a pig, experimentally infected with larvae of T. papuae, was exposed to the environmental conditions of Papua New Guinea to establish how long these larvae would survive and remain infective to a new host. Larvae retained their infectivity in the pig carcass up to 9 days after slaughtering, during which time the temperature within the carcass reached 35.0°C on 2 days; the average relative humidity was 79.0%. A low number of larvae survived up to day 14 after the pig was killed, when the carcass temperature reached 38.0°C, but they lost their infectivity to laboratory mice. This result suggests that the larvae of T. papuae can survive in a tropical environment for a time, favouring their transmission to a new host in spite of the lack of a collagen capsule.