First report of Ascaris Suum specimens in the biliary ducts of a piglet

INTRODUCTION: The present study reports an unusual localization of Ascaris suum specimens in the bile ducts of a piglet. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case in literature reporting this particular localization of A. suum in a piglet. MATERIALS AND METHODS: a 30-days-old piglet slaughtered in february 2022 in the oristano province presented Ascaris spp. specimens in the hepatic bile ducts. The piglet was the seventh of a litter born from a 3-year-old Sarda multiparous sow in which eggs of Ascaris spp. were found through the copromicroscopical examination. at the time of the home slaughtering, according to the legislative decree 2 february 2021 n.27 which provides the inspection in the 10% of the home slaughtering, the official veterinarian did not attend, and the intestine was discharged. liver was subjected to an ultrasonography and selected tissue samples of the liver showing ascarid lesions were fixed in 10% buffered formalin for the following histological examination. dna was extracted from the ascarids collected and used for the molecular identification carried out according to zhu et al. (1999. Int J Parasitol, 29:169-78). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The presence of ascarids in the bile ducts was detected only in one piglet of the whole litter. a total of 43 preadult nematodes were found occupying the gallbladder and the small and large bile ducts, with a mean length of 8 cm and a mean width of 1.7 mm. Parasites were molecularly identified as A. suum. macroscopically, the liver was moderately enlarged, with accentuated lobular pattern and scattered pales areas admixed with multifocal haemorrhages. multifocally, the parasitized bile ducts were severely enlarged. expanding portal areas and compressing adjacent sinusoids and hepatic cords was a severe, chronic inflammatory infiltrate often centred around up to 5 mm in diameter ectatic bile ducts lined by hyperplastic epithelium (biliary epithelial hyperplasia) and filled by sections of nematodes. within the lumen of bile ducts, sloughed epithelial cells and cellular debris were longitudinal up to 4 mm and transverse (up to 1.5 mm) sections of nematodes with a smooth cuticle, coelomyarian musculature, prominent lateral alae, intestinal tract lined by columnar uninucleated cells within a pseudocoelom. for in vivo diagnosis, the liver ultrasonography could be suggested as observed in this study it allows the detection of the parasites in the bile ducts. unfortunately, the absence of the intestine does not allow to define the pathogenesis of the infestation. however, as reported in infestation by Ascaris lumbricoides in humans, the A. suum specimens may have migrated to the liver from the intestine through the choledochus (anup, 2014. J Glob Infect dis, 6:65-72). alternatively, the worms may have passed through the intestinal wall and have migrated through the portal system to the liver and lung (husin et al., 2021. malays fam Physician, 16).