A Comparison of Three Strains of Trichinella Spiralis
I. Pathogenicity and Extent of Larval Development in the Musculature
Irving Rappaport
From the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Cornell University Medical College, New York City
1. It has been emphasized that accurate techniques are essentialfor proper quantitative investigation in the field of experimentaltrichinosis.
2. There appeared to be little or no differenceamong the threestrains of T. spiralis studied in regard tolethal dose, survivaltime of animals and extent of parasitizationof the musculature.
3. As criteria for proper investigationof a problem in experimentaltrichinosis, lethal dose and survivaltime of animals possessmany limitations. It was almost impossibleto predict the survivaltime of mice infected with T. spiralisunless massive dosesof larvae were given. No animals died duringthe 60 day periodwhen infected with less than 30 larvae pergram of body weight.All but 2 animals died when infected withdoses greater than60 larvae per gram of body weight. Many animalsinfected with40 larvae per gram of body weight survived the60 day periodafter infection.
4. Considerable variationsin the proportions of larvae recoveredto larvae fed were encounteredin all larval dose groups butthe average size of the proportionsin each group indicatedthat the size of larval dose had littleinfluence on their trend.