High zoonotic potential and heavy environmental burden of Cryptosporidium spp. and Enterocytozoon bieneusi in farmed and pet African pygmy hedgehogs (Atelerix albiventris)

High Prevalence of Microsporidia in the North African Hedgehog (Atelerix algirus) in the Canary Islands, Spain

“…Considering the host species, the 47.2% (17/36) prevalence of E. bieneusi reported in A. algirus fecal samples is higher than that reported in a study conducted in China, which reported a prevalence of 9.8% (4/41) in E. amurensis intestine samples [10], but lower than the 70.0% (266/380) reported in fecal samples from farmed and pet A. albiventris, also conducted in China. The highest genetic diversity was recorded in A. albiventris with one known genotype, SCR05 (88.3%; 235/266) and 10 novel genotypes, GDH01 (3.4%; 9/266), GDH02 (0.8%; 3/266), and GDH03-GDH10 (one sample each) [11], followed by E. amurensis with four novel genotypes, EA1, EA2, EA3, and EA4 (one sample each) [10]. The population of A. algirus on the Canary Islands showed low genetic diversity and two novel genotypes, AAE1 and AAE2.…”

“…Microsporidia have been found in several hosts, including livestock, companion and wildlife animals worldwide, but little is known about microsporidia infection in hedgehogs [8]. To our knowledge, the detection of E. bieneusi has only been reported in an undetermined species of hedgehog [9], in the Amur hedgehog (Erinaceus amurensis) [10] and more recently in the African pygmy hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) [11].…”

“…Enterocytozoon bieneusi, with approximately 500 genotypes described based on the sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the rRNA gene, is clustered within 11 phylogenetic groups. Group 1 and Group 2 are considered zoonotic, while the remaining groups (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11) are considered host-specific [2]. In Encephalitozoon cuniculi, four genotypes (I-IV) based on the number of 5 -GTTT-3 repeats in the ITS have been described, all of which have confirmed zoonotic potential [3].…”