Prevalence of Enterocytozoon bieneusi and genetic diversity of ITS genotypes in sheep and goats in China.

Enterocytozoon bieneusi is the most common microsporidia species, recognized in more than 90% cases of human microsporidiosis and has been found in a variety of animal hosts. To explore the prevalence of E. bieneusi in sheep and goats in China, genetic diversity and zoonotic potential of E. bieneusi, 193 fecal specimens from 138 sheep and 55 goats from eight farms in Heilongjiang Province, China were analyzed for the occurrence of E. bieneusi by PCR and sequencing of the single internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the rRNA gene. The average prevalence of E. bieneusi was 22.3% (43/193), with 22.5% (31/138) for sheep versus 21.8% (12/55) for goats. Altogether 14 genotypes of E. bieneusi were identified, including six known genotypes-BEB6 (n=15), Peru6 (8), D (n=6), O (n=3), EbpC (n=2), and EbpA (n=1)-and eight novel genotypes named COS-I to COS-VII and COG-I (one each). Six of the genotypes were previously detected in humans. In phylogenetic analysis, the five novel genotypes COG-I and CCOS-IV to COS-VII were clustered into group 1 with zoonotic potential. These results indicate that these animals may play a potential role in the transmission of E. bieneusi to humans.