Trichinellosis General Disease Information Sheets What is Trichinellosis?

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.363.6667; http://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/eng/Media_Center/docs/pdf/Disease_cards/TRICHI-EN.pdf

Trichinellosis is a serious zoonotic disease (an animal disease that can infect humans) caused by parasitic nematodes (roundworms) of the genus Trichinella. There are eight species and three additional genotypes in the genus, with various geographic and host preferences. Some species are freeze tolerant. Found around the world, Trichinella can infect most mammals, and a few species also infect reptiles or birds. While humans are susceptible to infection by all species of the parasite, Trichinella spiralis is the most common, infecting pigs, horses, rats, many carnivores, among other animals. Trichinellosis is a disease listed in the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code which Members are obligated to report to the OIE. Diagnostic methods and related information are described in the OIE Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals. 1 General Disease Information Sheets Where is the disease found? Trichinella is found on every continent except Antarctica. Most of the eight species have wide geographic and host distribution, a few of them are