Occurrence of Enterocytozoon bieneusi in Donkeys (Equus asinus) in China: A Public Health Concern

Enterocytozoon bieneusi is an important zoonotic parasite. It can infect virtually all animal species and has a global distribution. However, the prevalence of E. bieneusi in donkeys (Equus asinus) has only been reported in Algeria and Spain, and no information is available concerning genotypes of E. bieneusi in donkeys worldwide. In the present study, a total of 301 donkey fecal samples (48 from Jilin Province, 224 from Shandong Province and 29 from Liaoning Province) were collected and examined by PCR amplification of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. The overall E. bieneusi prevalence was 5.3% (16/301), with 6.3% (3/48) in Jilin Province, 4.9% (11/224) in Shandong Province, and 6.9% (2/29) in Liaoning Province. Prevalence in different age groups ranged from 4.2 to 5.5%. E. bieneusi prevalence in donkeys sampled in different seasons varied from 4.2 to 6.5%. Altogether, four E. bieneusi genotypes were identified in this study, with two known genotypes (J and D) and two novel genotypes (NCD-1and NCD-2). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that genotypes D, NCD-1 and NCD-2 belonged to group 1, while the remaining genotype J was clustered into group 2. These findings revealed the occurrence of E. bieneusi in donkeys in China for the first time. Moreover, the present study also firstly genotyped the E. bieneusi in donkeys worldwide. These findings extend the distribution of E. bieneusi genotypes and provide baseline data for controlling E. bieneusi infection in donkeys, other animals and humans.