Prevalence of and from Brown Rats () in Heilongjiang Province, China.

and are globally widespread zoonotic cestodes. Rodents are the main reservoir host of these cestodes. Brown rats () are the best known and most common rats, and usually live wherever humans live, especially in less than desirable hygiene conditions. Due to the little information of the 2 hymenolepidid species in brown rats in China, the aim of this study was to understand the prevalence and genetic characterization of and in brown rats in Heilongjiang Province, China. Total 114 fecal samples were collected from brown rats in Heilongjiang Province. All the samples were subjected to morphological examinations by microscopy and genetic analysis by PCR amplification of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 () gene and the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene. In total, 6.1% (7/114) and 14.9% (17/114) of samples were positive for and , respectively. Among them, 7 and 3 isolates were successfully amplified and sequenced at the and loci, respectively. No nucleotide variations were found among isolates at either of the 2 loci. Seventeen isolates produced 2 different sequences while 7 sequences obtained were identical to each other. The present results of and infections in brown rats implied the risk of zoonotic transmission of hymenolepiasis in China. These molecular data will be helpful to deeply study intra-specific variations within cestodes in the future.