Infestation of wild boar meat from the Eastern Lublin province with Alaria mesocercariae

Abstract

The study was aimed at assessment of the usefulness of a digestion method, a standard procedure for routine examination of wild boar meat for Trichinella, in detecting the presence of Distomum musculorum suis (DMS) in the population of wild boars from the Eastern Lublin province. The study material included 500 samples collected from the diaphragm pillars of 250 young boars (6-12 months) and 250 boars above one year of age. First, the meat was tested with the digestion method that is a referential procedure for trichinosis detection. Then, the samples in which over ten mesocercariae were found were assessed with an Alaria-Migration Technique (AMT). The digestion method confirmed the presence of Alaria mesocercariae in 42 carcasses of young boars (16.8 %) and 117 samples of animals older than one year (46.8 %). The study showed a diversified intensity of the parasite presence in the carcasses of individual animals. The invasion intensity ranged from 1 to 18 parasites in 50 g of meat in the young animals, and from 1 to 22 larvae in the older individuals. The carcasses of eight young and thirty two older animals contained over 10 parasites per 50 g of the meat, which accounted for 3.2 % and 12.8 % animals per respective age group. AMT analysis also indicated variable intensity of the parasite infestation, amounting to 32-57 mesocercariae in young animals and 31-71 larvae in the older ones. The study demonstrated an almost three times higher efficiency of the AMT method than the digestion method, which made us conclude that the former should be recommended for Alaria detection. The digestion method used for routine detection of Trichinella, despite its lower accuracy in diagnosing Alaria mesocercariae, can be also employed for the detection of DMS in the case of intensive parasite infection. Our study confirmed high prevalence of the parasite among wild boars from the Eastern Lublin Province. We also found that the invasion intensity depended on the animal age and was higher in older individuals. Considering the zoonotic nature of alariosis and its frequency, it poses an increasingly common problem for official veterinarians during the sanitary and veterinary evaluation of wild boar meat.