Epidemiological perspective associated with principal risk factors of Trichinella spiralis infection in pigs and humans in Egypt

Vet World Vol.15 June-2022 Article-5

Research Article

Veterinary World, 15(6): 1430-1437

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2022.1430-1437

Eman Sayed Mohammed¹, Asmaa Gahlan Youseef², Asmaa Gaber Mubarak², Amany Sayed Mawas³, Fatma Ahmed Khalifa⁴, and Wael Felefel⁵

1. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
2. Department of Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
3. Department of Pathology and Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
4. Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
5. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Matrouh University, Matrouh 51744, Egypt.

Background and Aim: In Egypt, there is a scarcity of recent data on trichinellosis in pigs and humans. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the epidemiological profile and risk factors associated with Trichinella spiralis infection as well as to assess the effectiveness of the trichinoscope and digestion technique in diagnosing trichinellosis.

Materials and Methods: Data were collected on 33812 pigs slaughtered during a year at the Al-Basateen abattoir, Cairo Governorate, Egypt. The slaughtered pigs had already been examined by trichinoscope in the abattoir. The diagnostic effectiveness technique was randomly conducted on 170 pork muscle samples, which were examined using the digestion technique. Furthermore, 90 serum samples from high-risk individuals in Qena and Sohag Governorates, Upper Egypt, were analyzed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: The investigation revealed that the overall prevalence was 1.06% in pigs by trichinoscope. Of the examined 170 samples, 2.35% and 3.35% were found to harbor Trichinella by trichinoscope and artificial digestion, respectively. Trichinella was identified as T. spiralis using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. A significant relationship was affirmed between the prevalence of trichinellosis and the sex and age of the examined pigs. Likewise, for the first time, there was a considerable seasonal trend in the prevalence of Trichinella with the maximum infection, which was observed during Autumn (1.18%). The prevalence of trichinellosis in humans was 10%, with a significant association with age.

Conclusion: Our findings are intended to serve as a starting point for developing effective preventive and control measures for trichinellosis (as application of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) in pig farms, stop feeding pigs on garbage as well as, preventing illegal slaughter of pigs outside the slaughterhouses). It also fortifies the establishment of the digestion technique because of its high specificity and sensitivity, although it is difficult to apply to a large number of samples. Keywords: Egypt, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, humans, pigs, polymerase chain reaction, Trichinella spiralis.

Keywords: Egypt, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, humans, pigs, polymerase chain reaction, Trichinella spiralis.

How to cite this article: Mohammed ES, Youseef AG, Mubarak AG, Mawas AS, Khalifa FA, Felefel W (2022) Epidemiological perspective associated with principal risk factors of Trichinella spiralis infection in pigs and humans in Egypt, Veterinary World, 15(6): 1430-1437.

Received: 14-12-2021 Accepted: 18-04-2022 Published online: 11-06-2022

Corresponding author: Asmaa Gaber Mubarak E-mail: a_mubarek@vet.svu.edu.eg

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2022.1430-1437

Copyright: Mohammed, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.