Trichinella infection in Serbia in the first decade of the twenty-first century

In Serbia, infection with Trichinella spp. has been recognized as a human health and animal husbandry problem for almost a century. The rate of swine infection gradually decreased from 0.14% to 0.02% between 2001 and 2010. For the past 5 years, Trichinella infections among swine were detected at levels higher than 0.05% in 3 districts of Serbia while prevalence persisted at lower levels for the rest of the country. During this 10-year period, there were 2257 cases of human trichinellosis, including 3 deaths; however, a significant decrease in the number of cases was reported during the last 5 years (fewer than 200 cases per year). The fact that prevalence data presented here are similar to prevalence data from 1990 indicates that this period of 10 years was needed to overcome the re-emergence of Trichinella infection in swine and humans that occurred during the last decade of the previous century.