Encephalitozoon cuniculi

Hinney, Barbara, Sak, Bohumil, Joachim, Anja & Kva ́ ̆ c, Martin, 2016, More than a rabbit's tale - Encephalitozoon spp. in wild mammals and birds, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 5 (1), pp. 76-87 : 77

2.1.1. Encephalitozoon cuniculi

E. cuniculi can be assumed to circulate in rabbit populations worldwide and has the broadest host range, mainly among the non-human Mammalia , but also in birds and humans. Four different strains have so far been differentiated by analysis of the ITS region of ribosomal genes, although there seems to be a certain host preference in each strain this specificity is not strict ( Selman et al., 2013). Strain I (“rabbit strain”) is found predominantly in rabbits; strain II (“mouse strain”) is found in rodents but also in blue foxes and cats; strain III (“dog strain”) has been shown to cause high mortality in monkeys, steppe lemmings and dogs. The recently discovered strain IV (“human strain”) has so far been found in humans, cats and dogs ( Talabani et al., 2010; Nell et al., 2014, 2015).

Humans have been found to be infected with all known strains (although only rarely with strain III). It is most likely that infections with E. cuniculi are predominantly zoonotic ( Shadduck et al., 1979; Didier, 2005; Mathis et al., 2005; Didier and Weiss, 2011; Sokolova et al., 2011).