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In the United States, negligible rates of zoonotic sarcocystosis occur in feral swine that, by contrast, frequently harbour infections with Sarcocystis miescheriana, a related parasite contracted from canids

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2014

R. CALERO-BERNAL ,
S. K. VERMA ,
S. OLIVEIRA ,
Y. YANG ,
B. M. ROSENTHAL  and
J. P. DUBEY
R. CALERO-BERNAL
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350, USA
S. K. VERMA
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350, USA
S. OLIVEIRA
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350, USA
Y. YANG
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350, USA
B. M. ROSENTHAL
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350, USA
J. P. DUBEY*
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350, USA
*
*Corresponding author. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland 20705-2350, USA. E-mail: jitender.dubey@ars.usda.gov
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Summary

Transmission of pathogens between domestic and wild life animals plays an important role in epidemiology. Feral pig populations are increasing and expanding in the USA, and may constitute a risk to non-biosecure domestic pig facilities by serving as reservoirs for pathogens. We surveyed, for Sarcocystis infection, the myocardium of 1006 feral pigs (Sus scrofa) trapped or hunted in 29 states during the Comprehensive Feral Swine Disease Surveillance Program of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services unit during 2012–2014. Sarcocysts were detected in histological sections of 25% (251/1006) of myocardium with an average parasitic load/intensity of infection of 3·03 sarcocysts/section (1·5×0·7 cm), and higher prevalence of myocarditis in severe infections. Microscopic examination of pepsin digests of 147 hearts revealed a higher prevalence of Sarcocystis bradyzoites (49%, 72/147) than when diagnosed by histology. A fragment of Sarcocystis 18S rRNA was amplified and digested with a restriction endonuclease, revealing a pattern consistent with Sarcocystis miescheriana in all 44 selected samples. Sequencing 31 of these 44 isolates confirmed their correspondence to S. miescheriana. Thus, S. miescheriana infection, but not the zoonotic parasite Sarcocystis suihominis, appears to be prevalent and widespread in feral pigs in the USA.

Keywords

Sarcocystisferal pigsSus scrofaPCR-RFLPparasitic loadfood safetyUSA
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 142 , Issue 4 , April 2015 , pp. 549 - 556
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Creative Commons
This is a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States.
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014

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Footnotes

† Both the authors equally contributed to this work.

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