Occurrence of in Donkeys () in China: A Public Health Concern.

is an important zoonotic parasite. It can infect virtually all animal species and has a global distribution. However, the prevalence of in donkeys () has only been reported in Algeria and Spain, and no information is available concerning genotypes of 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 . 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%. . prevalence in donkeys sampled in different seasons varied from 4.2 to 6.5%. Altogether, four 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 in donkeys in China for the first time. Moreover, the present study also firstly genotyped the . in donkeys worldwide. These findings extend the distribution of genotypes and provide baseline data for controlling infection in donkeys, other animals and humans.