Enterocytozoon bieneusi infects humans and animals and can cause life-threatening diarrhea in immunocompromised people. The routes of transmission and its zoonotic potential are not fully understood. Pigs have been frequently reported to have E. bieneusi; therefore, we surveyed farm-raised pigs in the Czech Republic to determine its presence and genetic diversity. Spores were detected by microscopy in the faeces of 65 out of 79 examined animals (82%). A species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) identified E. bieneusi in 94% of samples. Genotyping based on the ITS regions of the SSU rRNA gene identified that most pigs were infected with the species-specific genotype F, while two animals had the zoonotic genotype D and two had genotype Peru 9. This is the first report of E. bieneusi in swine in the Czech Republic, and demonstrated that most infections were with pig-specific genotypes. Nonetheless, swine may still play a role in the transmission of E. bieneusi to humans.

Institute of Parasitology Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Branisovska 31 370 05 Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic