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Occurrence of selected zoonotic food-borne parasites and first molecular identification of Alaria alata in wild boars (Sus scrofa) in Italy

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Abstract

Wild boar is a source of human infections with zoonotic pathogens, including food-borne parasites. With the aim of a characterization of the human exposure risk, a survey on wild boars intended for human consumption was planned, selecting three pathogens, Toxoplasma gondii, Alaria alata, and Trichinella spp., as markers of meat infection. Diaphragm muscle samples from 100 wild boars hunted in Piedmont region (Northern Italy) in two hunting seasons (2015–2016) were collected. Concerning T. gondii, a combined approach of antibody detection and molecular techniques with genotyping was performed. For the detection of A. alata and Trichinella spp., the larva migration technique and the magnetic stirrer method were employed, respectively; in addition, molecular confirmation of the morphological identification of the recovered specimen was performed. Anti-T. gondii antibodies were found in meat juice samples (43.3%) and T. gondii DNA (type II) was detected in three animals (7.1%) out of 42 seropositive examined. In none of the sampled wild boars (0%), Trichinella spp. larvae were found, whereas one animal (1%) scored positive to A. alata mesocercariae. The molecular diagnosis proved the morphological identification of the trematode. This is the first finding of A. alata in Italian wild boar population. The present study confirmed the role of wild boars as a source of parasitic zoonotic diseases and thus the risk derived for humans posed by the consumption of game meat. Considering the zoonotic implications, the results underline the importance of monitoring and surveillance of zoonotic parasites in Italian wild boar populations.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the Comprensorio Alpino VCO 1 of Verbania and their hunters for their help in the sampling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 10, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Alessia Libera Gazzonis, Luca Villa, Stefano Minazzi, Emanuela Olivieri, Sergio Aurelio Zanzani & Maria Teresa Manfredi

  2. Faculty of Life Sciences, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

    Katharina Riehn

  3. Institute of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Ahmad Hamedy

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  1. Alessia Libera Gazzonis
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  2. Luca Villa
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Correspondence to Alessia Libera Gazzonis.

Ethics declarations

All animals enrolled in the present study were legally shot by authorized hunters within the control plan for wild boar populations carried out by Val Grande National Park. The plan was approved by the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) and by the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea (MATTM) and authorized by Piedmont Region (decree no 40-1967, 31/07/2015).

Therefore, the collection and analysis of samples (diaphragm muscle tissue) did not require the approval of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Università degli Studi di Milano.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Gazzonis, A.L., Villa, L., Riehn, K. et al. Occurrence of selected zoonotic food-borne parasites and first molecular identification of Alaria alata in wild boars (Sus scrofa) in Italy. Parasitol Res 117, 2207–2215 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-5908-5

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