o:27980 Two trichinellosis outbreaks in Serbia-challenging diagnosis due to a potential co-infection with Toxocara spp. en ABSTRACT In Serbia, in most cases, small family outbreaks of trichinellosis occur due to the consumption of untested infected meat from domestic pigs that are raised and slaughtered in the backyards of small individual farms. The aim of this study is to present data regarding 24 patients involved in two outbreaks that occurred in two neighbouring districts in Serbia during a closely related period of time in August 2014. The source of infection in the first outbreak was undercooked pork, while raw pork sausages caused the second outbreak. Meat samples and sausages were Trichinella spp. positive by artificial digestion. With the aim to obtain a second opinion and validate the serological findings discovered at the Public Health Institute Nis, all samples were sent to the National Reference Laboratory for Trichinellosis, INEP. Serodiagnosis showed that 21 persons were positive (87.5%) and three (12.5%) were negative for anti-Trichinella antibodies, while 15 patients fulfilled the trichinellosis case definition. Western blot analysis (using an epitope unique for the muscle larvae stage of the Trichinella genus) confirmed the diagnosis of trichinellosis in five patients. Six patients also had specific antibodies against Toxocara canis (T. canis). Due to the fact that in endemic foci in Serbia there is the presence of Trichinella spiralis and T. canis and that these two infections could be asymptomatic, we consider that trichinellosis cases were irrefutably proven. The dilemma about the existence of co-infection with T. canis remained open due to the lack of clinical findings. Toxocara canis, Trichinella spiralis, co-infection, outbreak 1552099 10.1017/S0022149X22000712 1552101 0022-149X 2023-02-10T20:27:38.853Z 44 yes 46 Ivana Mitić University of Belgrade, Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy INEP, Serbia doktor medicine, doktor medicinskih nauka 0000-0003-0330-4213 Ljiljana Sofronić-Milosavljević University of Belgrade, Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy INEP, Serbia doktor medicine, doktor medicinskih nauka person 0000-0002-2721-125X N. Miladinović-Tasić University of Niš, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health Institute Niš, Niš, Serbia person N. Ristović Department of Infectology, Medical Health Center Zaječar, Zaječar, Serbia person Saša Vasilev University of Belgrade, Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy INEP, Serbia doktor medicinskih nauka-veterina person 0000-0001-7870-2713 Marija Gnjatović University of Belgrade, Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy INEP, Serbia doktor biotehničkih nauka person 0000-0001-8233-1636 application/pdf 347013 https://phaidrabg.bg.ac.rs/o:27980 no yes 16 70 92000001 11A29 11A2904 Journal of Helminthology 96 Cambridge University Press 2022