PECULIARITIES OF TRICHINELLA LARVAE DISTRIBUTION IN BADGERS’ MUSCLES THAT INHABIT IN AMUR REGION

Abstract

Trichinellosis is a parasitic disease that affects animals and humans. Trichinella is a causative agent seen as a small round worm invisible to the eye. Trichinellosis affects pets and wild animals. Pigs, horses, dogs and synanthropic rats are seen to suffer from the disease more often among the domestic animals, and bears, wild boars, foxes, badgers and others – among the wild ones. . Human infection takes place when eating meat and meat products as raw dried homemade sausages and ham, kebabs, fried meat and other meat products contaminated with trichinell larvae. Infestation of wild animals is caused by predation or eating of dead animals. Pets are infected by eating slaughter products, food scraps and dead animals (rats). Trichinella are preserved in the animal muscles for some years. Badgers populations are seen as one of trichinosis reserves in Amur region. To determine specific features of trichinella larvae distribution in the lean tissue, the researchers explored the materials of 21 badgers from different areas of Amur region. The researchers used the heads or separate muscle groups for conducting the research. This is explained by remote location of many districts from the regional center. Trichinella larvae were detected by compressor trichinelloscopy and digestion in artificial gastric juice. The analysis showed that the number of trichinell larvae in the same muscle group does not depend on the side of the animal’s body, i.e. their number is almost identical on both the left and right sides. Invasion rate (IR) was defined as ratio of the number of infected animals to the total number of animals explored (in percentage). Invasion intensity (II) was determined by the number of trichinell larvae in 1 g of lean tissue (lye/g). The same method was used to investigate the distribution of trichinella larvae in 15 muscle groups of a badger. Invasion intensity in the infected animals was 14.3%. The largest number of trichinella larvae in a badger is concentrated in the head muscles, and there are no significant differences from the body part. The authors recommend to explore the badger carcasses and muscle sampling mainly from the head.