First report of Enterocytozoon bieneusi infection on a pig farm in the Czech Republic.
Enterocytozoon bieneusi infects humans and animals and can cause life-threatening diarrhea in immunocompromised people. The routes of transmission and its zoonotic potential are not fully understood. Pigs have been frequently reported to have E. bieneusi; therefore, we surveyed farm-raised pigs in the Czech Republic to determine its presence and genetic diversity. Spores were detected by microscopy in the faeces of 65 out of 79 examined animals (82%). A species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) identified E. bieneusi in 94% of samples. Genotyping based on the ITS regions of the SSU rRNA gene identified that most pigs were infected with the species-specific genotype F, while two animals had the zoonotic genotype D and two had genotype Peru 9. This is the first report of E. bieneusi in swine in the Czech Republic, and demonstrated that most infections were with pig-specific genotypes. Nonetheless, swine may still play a role in the transmission of E. bieneusi to humans.
Sak
Bohumil
B
Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Branisovská 31, 370 05 Ceské Budejovice, Czech Republic. casio@paru.cas.cz
Kvác
Martin
M
Hanzlíková
Dagmar
D
Cama
Vitaliano
V
D000818:Animals; D018153:Czech Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D021862:Enterocytozoon / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D016881:Microsporidiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D015995:Prevalence; D013045:Species Specificity; D013172:Spores, Fungal / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission*; D015047:Zoonoses
D004271:DNA, Fungal