Detection by polymerase chain reaction of Trichinella spiralis larvae in blood of infected patients.

Detection of the repetitive sequence pPra specific for Trichinella spiralis was carried out by PCR in the blood of 37 patients infected tout to six weeks previously, during a horse-meat related outbreak of trichinellosis (Paris, 1993). Only two patients of 37 wete PCR-positive. Human blood was sampled during the febrile phase of the disease, before any antihelminthic treatment. To assess the validity of the method, blood was taken from mice, 7, 1 0, and 1 3 days after infection by a Trichinella spiralis isolate obtained during the human outbreak. Trichinella DNA was detected in blood of mice, but only on day 7 post infection.