title: Trichinellosis in wolves from Croatia.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of Trichinella infection in wolves (Canis lupus) in a 17,468 km(2) area in Croatia. Muscle samples were collected from 67 wolves between 1996 and 2007 and analyzed by artificial digestion. Muscle larvae were detected in 21 wolves (31%) and genotyped by multiplex PCR. Trichinella britovi was the predominant species confirmed in 90% (19 wolves) while Trichinella spiralis was detected in 9% (2 wolves). The presence of the so called "domestic"Trichinella species was a surprise since, to date, only T. britovi had been reported in wild animals in this region. The larval burdens in infected animals ranged from 0.3 to 45.9 larvae per gram. The prevalence of infected animals varied by geographic region; infected animals were found in the region of Gorski Kotar (20%) which has very similar environment to the region of Lika, where almost all wolves were found infected. Interestingly, this is the first report of infected wolves in Dalmatia.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department for Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, University of Zagreb, Heinzelova 55, Zagreb, Croatia. reljab@vef.hr
authors.forename: Relja
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.forename: Josip
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kusak
authors.forename: Zeljko
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mihaljević
authors.forename: Snjezana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lucinger
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zivicnjak
authors.forename: Duro
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gudan
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marinculić
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017523:Croatia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000469:parasitology; D015995:Prevalence; D014234:Trichinella / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D014235:Trichinellosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D019596:Wolves