Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium.
Scientific Service Food-Borne Pathogens, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium.
Foodborne Pathog Dis. 2020 May;17(5):316-321. doi: 10.1089/fpd.2019.2675. Epub 2020 Jan 6.
is a worldwide prevalent, zoonotic parasite of major importance for public health, which can infect any warm-blooded animal species, including humans. Humans can get infected by consumption of meat from a chronically infected animal, by ingestion of sporulated oocysts (resulting from the sexual replication in felids), via contaminated water, soil, or vegetables, and by vertical transmission via the placenta. Infection through meat consumption is estimated to be one of the main sources of human toxoplasmosis cases in developed countries, and more specifically pork is considered to be responsible for 41% of foodborne human toxoplasmosis cases in the United States. To better assess the role of pork as a source of infection in humans in Belgium, parasites were isolated from pigs to compare with human clinical isolates in a molecular epidemiological study. A positive result was obtained by magnetic capture-quantitative polymerase chain reaction for in 14 out of the 92 hearts sampled during 2016 and 2017 from pigs raised in organic farms. From 9 of these 14 samples, parasites were isolated by mouse bioassay, demonstrating the presence of viable in animals intended for human consumption. When genotyped and compared with 15 human isolates obtained during 2015 and 2016, a highly related structured population was demonstrated. Overall, these findings demonstrate the presence of infectious in pigs intended for human consumption. Therefore, a potential transmission of strains from pigs to humans could occur. However, both species could also be infected via a common source of infection such as oocysts. Furthermore, Belgium does not have an official surveillance program for in human cases or food-producing animals; as a consequence, the detection of the infection source of a patient is very rare. Overall, this study reinforces the identification of pork as a potential risk for the consumers.
刚地弓形虫是一种广泛流行的、动物源性寄生虫，对公共卫生具有重要意义，可感染包括人类在内的所有温血动物。人类可因食用慢性感染动物的肉、摄入（猫科动物体内有性繁殖产生的）孢子化卵囊、被污染的水、土壤或蔬菜，以及通过胎盘垂直传播而感染。据估计，通过肉类消费感染是发达国家人类弓形虫病的主要来源之一，特别是猪肉被认为是美国 41%食源性人类弓形虫病病例的罪魁祸首。为了更好地评估猪肉作为人类感染源在比利时的作用，寄生虫从猪身上分离出来，与分子流行病学研究中的人类临床分离株进行比较。2016 年和 2017 年从有机农场饲养的猪身上采集的 92 个心脏样本中，有 14 个通过磁捕获定量聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测到了阳性结果。从这 14 个样本中的 9 个样本中，通过小鼠生物测定法分离出了寄生虫，证明了食用动物体内存在有活力的刚地弓形虫。对其进行基因分型并与 2015 年和 2016 年期间获得的 15 个人类分离株进行比较，发现了一个高度相关的结构种群。总的来说，这些发现证明了拟供人类食用的猪体内存在感染性刚地弓形虫。因此，刚地弓形虫菌株可能从猪传播给人类。然而，这两个物种也可能通过卵囊等共同的感染源而感染。此外，比利时在人类病例或食品生产动物中没有针对刚地弓形虫的官方监测计划；因此，患者感染源的检测非常罕见。总的来说，这项研究加强了猪肉对消费者来说是一个潜在风险的认识。
