1. Morphometric, histopathological and molecular findings of Macracanthorhynchus hirudinaceus infection in wild boar (Sus scrofa) from continental Italy.
- Author
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Sgroi G, D'Alessio N, Varcasia A, Degli Uberti B, Fani C, Trotta M, Fusco G, Doi K, and Veneziano V
- Subjects
- Animals, Female, Male, Humans, Swine, Phylogeny, Italy epidemiology, Europe, Sus scrofa, Swine Diseases epidemiology
- Abstract
Although Macracanthorhynchus hirudinaceus is a neglected acanthocephalan of suids occasionally responsible for severe infections in humans, the spread of wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations in Europe could promote the circulation. Herein, we report the first morphometric, histological and molecular characterization of a severe M. hirudinaceus infection in a boar from continental Italy. The boar's intestine displayed granulomatous enteritis due to 24 helminths (14 females, 10 males), identified as adults of M. hirudinaceus by a combined morphometric/molecular approach. The phylogenetic analysis of the cox1 gene revealed a close relationship of the M. hirudinaceus sequence type found herein with those from Hungary and insular Italy. The high haplotype diversity and low nucleotide diversity of M. hirudinaceus specimens would suggest its rapid demographic expansion in the Mediterranean basin. More research is needed to assess the presence of M. hirudinaceus in susceptible beetle species and the role of boars in the epidemiology of infection., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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