Effect of fox, pig, sheep, and poultry bile on the establishment of domestic and sylvatic species of Trichinella in rats

Most sylvatic species of Trichinella are known to have poor infectivity to rats, but in the present study oral administration of bile from other hosts appeared to modify this infectivity. A total of 75 rats were inoculated in groups of 25 with 3 species of Trichinella (T. spiralis, T. nativa, and T. nelsoni) and each group of rats was given per os daily doses of bile from pig, sheep, chicken and fox respectively (4×5 rats). As a control 1 group of 5 rats was given daily doses of water. Whereas, the addition of bile did not increase the establishment of T. spiralis, fox bile had a significant positive effect on the establishment of muscle larvae of T. nativa and T. nelsoni. Addition of bile to cultures of the same Trichinella species had an overall negative effect on the in vitro survival of larvae. The present observation that carnivore bile favours the establishment of sylvatic Trichinella may explain why carnivores are equally receptive to all Trichinella species.