title: Within-host dynamics of Trichinella spiralis predict persistent parasite transmission in rat populations.
abstract: Trichinella spiralis is transmitted and maintained in both a domestic and sylvatic cycle, whereby rats contribute to the spread of T. spiralis from domestic to sylvatic animals and vice versa. As a model for T. spiralis transmission in wildlife, we studied the potential of rats to act as a reservoir species for T. spiralis, by assessing experimentally its within-host infection dynamics, and simulating the between-host dynamics by a Monte Carlo approach. The distribution of parasite burden in individual rats is mathematically defined by roots of the dose response equation intersecting with the diagonal. In simulated between-host dynamics, up to 10(4) events of uninterrupted parasite transmission were observed. Histograms of parasite burdens per individual rat matched closely with the mixture of two gamma distributions, which were derived from the within-host infection dynamics. In conclusion, T. spiralis transmission persists in a population of rats when they cannibalize their own species. Rats should be included in the minimal set of wildlife species that maintain the life cycle of T. spiralis.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment RIVM Bilthoven, The Netherlands. Katsuhisa.Takumi@rivm.nl
authors.forename: Katsuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takumi
authors.forename: Frits
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Franssen
authors.forename: Manoj
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fonville
authors.forename: Aurélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grasset
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vallée
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boireau
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Teunis
authors.forename: Joke
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van der Giessen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000469:parasitology; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000469:parasitology; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000469:parasitology*; D005260:Female; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats / Q000469:parasitology*; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017160:Trichinella spiralis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D014235:Trichinellosis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission* / Q000662:veterinary*