Identification of zoonotic Enterocytozoon bieneusi genotypes in pre-weaned Korean native calves

Abstract

Background: Enterocytozoon bieneusi is the most common species of microsporidia that can infect humans and various animals worldwide. To date, information on the prevalence and genotypes of E. bieneusi infection in cattle in the Republic of Korea is limited. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence and genotypes of E. bieneusi circulating in pre-weaned Korean native calves and determine the age pattern of E. bieneusi infection and the relationship between E. bieneusi and diarrhea.Results: The overall prevalence of E. bieneusi was 16.9% (53/314) in pre-weaned calves by PCR. The prevalence of E. bieneusi was the highest in September (36.2%), followed by March (28.3%). E. bieneusi infection (c 2 = 5.82, P = 0.016) was associated with diarrhea in calves. The present results indicated that E. bieneusi infection was statistically associated with calf age (c 2 = 11.61, P = 0.003); the prevalence of E. bieneusi was significantly higher in calves aged 21-40 days (odds ratio = 2.90, 95% confidence interval: 1.54-5.45; P = 0.001) than in those aged 1-20 days. Interestingly, E. bieneusi infection showed an association with diarrhea only in calves aged 1-20 days (c 2 = 5.82, P = 0.010). Five genotypes, BEB4 ( n = 12), BEB8 ( n = 23), CHN6 ( n = 1), I ( n = 1), and J ( n = 16), were identified, and all these genotypes belonged to Group 2. The genotype BEB8 was the most prevalent in all age groups regardless of diarrhea. On the other hand, the genotype I was identified only in one calf aged 10 days with diarrhea. Except for CHN6, the four other genotypes were mostly observed in cattle, and all of them have zoonotic potential.Conclusions: This is the first report of the genotypes BEB4 and CHN6 in pre-weaned Korean native calves. The results revealed the presence of zoonotic E. bieneusi in pre-weaned Korean native calves, demonstrating that cattle may play an important role as a reservoir host in E. bieneusi transmission to humans. association. A P value of £0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Abbreviations E. bieneusi Enterocytozoon bieneusi; CI:confidence interval; C. parvum; Cryptosporidium parvum; G. duodenalis:Giardia duodenalis; ITS:internal transcribed spacer; OR:odds ratio; ROK:Republic of Korea Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate This study did not receive approval from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at Kyungpook National University, because the IACUC at this University evaluates laboratory animals maintained within indoor facilities and not at outdoor animals. A local veterinarian took all fecal samples and sent them to us.

Global prevalence and risk factors of Enterocytozoon bieneusi infection in humans: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…This is therefore of high public health significance. Findings also further demonstrate that human E. bieneusi infection is mainly related to animals [ 31 , 32 ].…”

“…The results of this study showed that 82.05% of genotypes belonged to Group 1. Group 1 has the largest number of species and is found in both domestic and wild animals worldwide [ 42 ], and is also the genotype group of E. bieneusi that mainly infects humans [ 31 , 32 ]. However, genotypes in other groups causing zoonotic disease cannot be ignored, such as J and BEBE4 in group 2, CAF4 and KIM3 in group 5, Nig3 and Nig4 in group 6, and S7 in group 10 [ 31 , 40 , 53 , 63 ].…”