The raccoon (Procyon lotor) is a North American carnivore introduced to Europe in the 20th Century. Raccoons are believed to be the potential hosts of many parasites, or to be involved in their transmission to other animals. Nematodes of the genus Trichinella can infect many carnivorous and omnivorous animals worldwide. The aim of the present study was to determine the occurrence of Trichinella spp. infection in raccoons in Central Europe. Muscle samples were collected from various regions of Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany during the years 2012-2016. The larvae of Trichinella spp. were detected in 11 raccoons, and these were identified as T. spiralis and T. pseudospiralis by multiplex PCR (89.9% and 9.1%, respectively). No mixed infection was observed. This is the first report describing the occurrence of T. spiralis and T. pseudospiralis in P. lotor in Central Europe. Our findings also show that the raccoon population acts as a reservoir of Trichinella pseudospiralis.

Department of Parasitology Institute of Genetics and Microbiology Wrocław University 51 148 Wrocław Przybyszewskiego 63 77 Poland

Institute of Biology Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences 51 631 Wrocław Kożuchowska 5b Poland

Witold Stefański Institute of Parasitology Polish Academy of Sciences 00 818 Warsaw Twarda 51 55 Poland

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Molecular identification of Sarcocystis lutrae (Apicomplexa: Sarcocystidae) from the raccoon dog, Nyctereutes procyonoides, and the common raccoon, Procyon lotor, in the Czech Republic