title: Farmed wild boars exposed to Toxoplasma gondii and Trichinella spp.
abstract: The meat of wild boar (Sus scrofa L.) can be a source of human infections with zoonotic parasites Toxoplasma gondii and Trichinella spp. We screened 197 wild boar sera collected at slaughter from 25 Finnish farms in 2007-2008 for serological evidence of infections with these parasites. Using a commercial direct agglutination test at a serum dilution of 1:40, T. gondii-specific IgG antibodies were detected in 65 (33.0%) samples, on 14 (56.0%) farms. Females, animals older than 24 months, animals of small herds, and animals originating from south-western parts of Finland were more often T. gondii-seropositive than were males, younger animals, animals of larger herds, and animals originating from the north and east, respectively. Four (2.0%) of the sera, originating from three (12.0%) farms, tested Trichinella-seropositive with an in-house ELISA and a conservative cut-off for seropositivity. One farm had both T. gondii- and Trichinella-seropositive animals. Taken together, an infection source had been present on 16 (64.0%) farms, and 69 (35.0%) of the 197 farmed wild boars intended for human consumption had specific serological evidence of exposure to a zoonotic parasite.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 66, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. pikka.jokelainen@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Pikka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jokelainen
authors.forename: Anu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Näreaho
authors.forename: Outi
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hälli
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heinonen
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sukura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D034421:Sus scrofa; D014122:Toxoplasma; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D014234:Trichinella; D014235:Trichinellosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*