Laboratory of Parasitology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University, 1-17-71 Fuchinobe, Kanagawa, 252-5201, Sagamihara, Japan.
Parasitol Res. 2021 May;120(5):1737-1741. doi: 10.1007/s00436-021-07115-w. Epub 2021 Mar 19.
Although raw or undercooked livestock meat or viscera has been suggested to be a source of human toxocariasis, there have been few reports on the prevalence of Toxocara larvae in the tissue of livestock animals. To investigate the presence of Toxocara larvae in chickens, we examined 50 culled chickens from a commercial layer farm. The liver, breast meat, and thigh meat were separated individually and artificially digested to examine for the presence of larvae. Nematode larvae were detected in 2 out of 50 chickens. One larva was detected from the breast meat, and it was molecularly identified as Toxocara tanuki. The other from the thigh meat of another chicken was molecularly identified as Toxocara cati. The present study demonstrated for the first time that T. tanuki larvae do infect chickens in the natural environment. The fact that Toxocara spp. larvae were found in muscles of farm chickens suggests that consumption of raw or undercooked chicken meat may present a risk for human toxocariasis.
尽管生的或未煮熟的牲畜肉或内脏被认为是人类旋毛虫病的来源，但关于牲畜组织中旋毛虫幼虫的流行情况的报道很少。为了调查鸡中是否存在旋毛幼虫，我们检查了来自商业蛋鸡场的 50 只淘汰鸡。将肝脏、鸡胸肉和鸡腿肉分别单独分离并进行人工消化，以检查幼虫的存在。在 50 只鸡中有 2 只检测到了线虫幼虫。一只幼虫从鸡胸肉中检出，经分子鉴定为犬弓首蛔虫。另一只来自另一只鸡的大腿肉，经分子鉴定为猫弓首蛔虫。本研究首次证明，在自然环境中，T. tanuki 幼虫确实会感染鸡。在农场鸡的肌肉中发现旋毛虫幼虫的事实表明，食用生的或未煮熟的鸡肉可能会对人类旋毛虫病构成风险。
