Survey of Trichinella spp. infection in pigs from commercial piggeries in Zimbabwe.

Trichinella spp. infection has never been reported among domestic pigs in Zimbabwe. Given that Trichinella spp. occurs in a sylvatic cycle in Zimbabwe and particularly in the light of the recent notification of the presence of the infection in farmed crocodiles, a survey was undertaken to evaluate the present epidemiological situation on commercial pig farms. Carcasses of 7,446 fattener pigs (average 11.7% [+/- 0.2%] of those slaughtered from each farm) were investigated by artificial digestion of pooled diaphragm muscle samples. These carcasses originated from 70 commercial piggeries and were selected by stratification on a farm basis from 63,602 pigs slaughtered during the survey period. No Trichinella spp. larvae were found in any of the 7,446 diaphragm muscle samples. The results demonstrated no evidence of Trichinella spp. infection within the pig population of the commercial piggeries in Zimbabwe.