Animal Trichinella infection in Romania: Geographical heterogeneity for the last 8 years

International audience

English. Previous studies in southeastern Europe reported a high incidence of human trichinellosisand a high prevalence of Trichinella infection in animals in countries like Bulgaria, Croatia,Romania and Serbia. The aim of this study was, using routine Trichinella test data in pig andgame animals, to investigate the extent of Trichinella infection in slaughtered animals inRomania, over the period of 1997–2004, and to identify possible differences in prevalenceamong the various regions of Romania. Trichinella infection data were obtained fromtrichinelloscopic examinations of domestic (backyard and industrial reared pigs) andgame species (wild boar and bears). A marked difference between Transylvania and othercounties of Romania, observed for human trichinellosis, was taken into account whenanalyzing Trichinella epidemiological data. A cumulative prevalence of 8 cases/104 animalstested for pigs, 9 cases/103 animals tested for wild boars, and 13.1 cases/102 animals testedfor bears was obtained for the 8 years period. Analysis of animal prevalence datademonstrated a geographical heterogeneity: whereas Trichinella prevalence in pigs ismuch lower in Transylvania than in the other counties, Trichinella prevalence in gameanimals is similar for the different regions. This observation suggests that, in Romania,rather than the levels of the parasite circulating in domestic and game animals, it waschanges in the social and political structure of Romania in the 1990s, combined withinadequatemeat inspection practices thatwere the main contributors to these geographicvariations.