Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Laboratory, Animal and Natural Resources Institute, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Building 173, BARC-East, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.
Res Vet Sci. 2011 Jun;90(3):363-71. doi: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2010.07.014. Epub 2010 Aug 10.
Microsporidia are a ubiquitous group of obligate intracellular parasites that infect all major animal groups. Enterocytozoon bieneusi is the most commonly identified Microsporidia in humans and has also been reported worldwide in animals with importance in veterinary medicine (e.g., cats, dogs, horses, cattle and pigs). The identification of E. bieneusi in animals has raised the question of the importance of animal reservoirs in the epidemiology of this pathogen, and the implications of the infection with this pathogen in infected animals. Considerable genetic diversity within E. bieneusi has been found with over 90 genotypes identified based on the ITS nucleotide sequence of E. bieneusi spores recovered from the feces of infected humans and animals. Both host-adapted E. bieneusi genotypes with narrow host ranges and potentially zoonotic genotypes with wide host specificity have been identified. The information presented in this review should be useful in understanding the taxonomy, epidemiology, zoonotic potential, and importance in public health of E. bieneusi.
微孢子虫是一类普遍存在的专性细胞内寄生虫，感染所有主要的动物群体。肠微孢子虫是人类感染最常见的微孢子虫，在全世界的动物中也有报道，在兽医医学中具有重要意义（例如，猫、狗、马、牛和猪）。在动物中鉴定出肠微孢子虫引起了人们对该病原体在流行病学中动物储存库重要性的关注，以及感染动物感染该病原体的影响。已经发现肠微孢子虫内存在相当大的遗传多样性，根据从感染人类和动物粪便中回收的肠微孢子虫孢子的 ITS 核苷酸序列，已经确定了超过 90 种基因型。已经鉴定出宿主适应性的肠微孢子虫基因型，其宿主范围较窄，以及具有广泛宿主特异性的潜在人畜共患病基因型。本综述中提供的信息应该有助于理解肠微孢子虫的分类学、流行病学、人畜共患潜力以及对公共卫生的重要性。
