Trichinella pseudospiralis in sedentary night-birds of prey from Central Italy.
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.
Pozio
E
E
Laboratory of Parasitology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
Goffredo
M
M
Fico
R
R
La Rosa
G
G
D000818:Animals; D018509:DNA, Helminth / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007558:Italy; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000469:parasitology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020304:Raptors / Q000469:parasitology; D020305:Strigiformes / Q000469:parasitology*; D014234:Trichinella / Q000302:isolation & purification*
D018509:DNA, Helminth