(1) Trichinella spiralis is widespread in East Africa. It has been found in man, bush pig, leopard, serval cat, spotted hyaena, striped hyaena, jackal, lion and domestic dog. It has never been found in the domestic pig nor in rodents, neither has it been found in carnivores which feed mainly on rodents.
(2) Preliminary attempts to transmit the infection from man, hyaenas, jackal and lion to small laboratory animals such as rats, mice, hamsters and rabbits showed that although the Kenya strain was morphologically typical of T. spiralis, it was of exceptionally low infectivity in these animals.
(3) A strain from the serval cat (Felis serval) was eventually established in the laboratory by passage through the mongoose, Myonax sanguineus, and through monkeys and baboons.