Comparative study of the sensibility of Metacercaria cysts of Phagicola Faust, 1920 (Trematoda: Heterophyidae) to ionizing radiation and to freezing in raw mullets Mugil Linnaeus, 1758 (Pisces: Mugilidae)

Foodborne illnesses have been a growing concern to the governments, international organizations and consumers, mainly regarding the damages they cause to human health. This issue is the result of the substitution of imported food habits, which enable the consumption of raw fish or wrongly prepared fish. Among the emergent parasitic zoonosis, the Fagicolose stands out. It is transmitted by Phagicola longa, a trematoda of great importance in public health and responsible for high percentages of Mugilidae infections, that is able to produce humans' parasitism. In this experiment, the studies were focused to the radio sensibility of metacercaria of Phagicola longa exposed to a treatment with ionizing radiation (gamma rays and electron beams) and the sensibility to freezing, in artificially infected fish. Some data were acquired regarding the occurrence of Phagicola longa in mullets bought in the local market, the freezer temperature of 10 domestic refrigerators, and the origin and preservation of the mullets in some Japanese-type restaurants in Sao Paulo. The results indicated more effectiveness in the treatment with the electron accelerator, as well as with the freezing at the temperature of-16 deg C. (author)