Trichinella spiralis
Trichinella spiralis
Taxonomy
- Kingdom Animalia
- Phylum Nematoda
- Class Adenophorea
- Order Enoplida
- Superfamily Trichinelloidea
- Family Trichinellidae
- Genus Trichinella
Final host
Pig, rat, horse, wide range of mammals, human
Morphology
Adults: very small worms (≈ 1 - 4 mm long, according to sex) The moniliform oesophagus is at least one-third of the total body length and the tail in the male has two small cloacal flaps but no copulatory spicule In the female, the vulva is in the mid-oesophageal region L1 (≈ 100-150 µm long), located in striated muscle, are coiled and covered by a lemon-shaped, often transparent, cyst
Cycle
Auto heteroxenous (the adult parasite and infective larvae are present within a single host) The parasite does not have a free-living stage
Location
Small intestine
Feeding
Adult: intestinal content L1: nurse cell content
Diagnostic
Encapsulated L1 in striated muscle cells
Transmission
Encapsulated L1 in striated muscle cells
