Epidemiological survey of trichinellosis in Yugoslavia.

In a long term epidemiological survey that included different hosts for Trichinella spiralis among wild and domestic animals, the parasitological and serological screening revealed a high number of positive animals. The incidence of T. spiralis in grazing pigs was high, 21.76% (170 examined) but most of positive animals were lightly infected (0.016-0.02 l/g). While out of 2,394 pigs raised in small private farms, 1.67% were positive with high infection rates, none of the pigs raised on a modern breeding and fattening farm were seropositive. A repeated survey in grazing pigs performed five years later and in the same area, showed the prevalence of seropositive pigs to be still high (22% of 100 examined pigs). The same data were confirmed by detection of specific anti-Trichinella antibodies in Western blotting procedure. One of 2,031 serologically (IgG-ELISA) examined horses from Croatia reacted positively with very high OD values. Different characteristics of biological patterns (RCI, female fecundity, capsule formation, isoenzyme analysis) were found between two well distinguished groups of isolates. The first group consisted of well defined T1 isolates with patterns described by the Reference Centre for Trichinellosis, Rome, Italy. The data obtained by isoenzyme analysis of the representative sylvatic isolate were comparable to T3 characteristics of isolates from foxes in Italy.

Comparative efficacy of triclabendazole, nitroxynil and rafoxanide against immature and mature Fasciola hepatica in naturally infected cattle.

In two trials the fasciolicidal activities of triclabendazole, nitroxynil and rafoxanide were assessed in cattle naturally infected with predominantly immature stages of Fasciola hepatica. Tablets containing 900 mg triclabendazole were administered orally at a dose rate of 12 mg/kg bodyweight. Rafoxanide and nitroxynil were used at a dose rate of 10 mg/kg, rafoxanide being given orally and nitroxynil by subcutaneous injection. Based on faecal egg counts nine weeks after treatment the efficacies were calculated to be 100 per cent for triclabendazole and 95.0 per cent for nitroxynil in the first trial and 98.4 per cent for triclabendazole and 52.9 per cent for rafoxanide 15 weeks after treatment in the second trial. In the first trial five animals from each of the three groups were slaughtered and their fluke burdens counted. Compared with the untreated control group the reductions in the fluke burdens were 96.9 per cent in triclabendazole treated cattle and 76.4 per cent in the nitroxynil treated group.

Evaluation of different antigens in a seroepizootiological survey of trichinellosis by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Antigen isolated from the large-particle fraction of the muscle Trichinella spiralis larvae (PAW), excretory/secretory (E/S) and crude worm extract (CWE) antigens were evaluated in a seroepizootiological survey of trichinellosis by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The ELISA using PAW antigen yielded 16 positive animals (1.6%), E/S antigen revealed 21 (2.1%) positive, and the highest number of positive (23 or 2.3%) were obtained using CWE antigen. Parasitological post-mortem examination of all seropositive animals showed five and seven false-positive animals when E/S and CWE antigens were used, respectively.