EVIDENCE OF POTENTIAL GENE FLOW IN TRICHINELLA-SPIRALIS AND IN TRICHINELLA-BRITOVI IN NATURE

During a study on the epidemiology of trichinellosis in Spain, 91 anim als and 9 samples of sausages homemade with pork were found positive f or Trichinella. Parasite identification at the species level was carri ed out by the polymerase chain reaction with a random primer on single muscle larvae. Seventy-one animals harbored Trichinella spiralis (17 domestic pigs, 53 wild boars, 1 fox), and 17 were infected with Trichi nella britovi (1 domestic pig, 13 wild boars, 3 foxes). Sausages were infected with T. spiralis. Three wild boars (3.3% of infected animals) harbored both species. The presence of both T. spiralis and T. britov i in the same host suggests that infections with 2 isolates of the sam e species can also occur, permitting the gene flow within the species.