Seroprevalence of antibodies to Encephalitozoon cuniculi and Encephalitozoon intestinalis in humans and animals Beata Malc ˇeková a, * , Monika Halánová b , Zlatana Sulínová b , Ladislav Molnár a , Petra Ravaszová a , Jozef Adam c , Miloš Halán a , Igor Valocky ´ a , Milan Baranovic ˇ d a University of Veterinary Medicine, Komenského 73, 04181 Košice, Slovakia b Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Trieda SNP 1, 04066 Košice, Slovakia c Faculty of Health of the University of Prešov, Partizánska 1, 08001 Prešov, Slovakia d Faculty Hospital of L. Pasteur, Rastislavova 43, 04190 Košice, Slovakia article info Article history: Accepted 12 March 2010 Keywords: Humans Animals Encephalitozoon cuniculi Encephalitozoon intestinalis Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay Zoonosis abstract The presence of antibodies against Encephalitozoon cuniculi (E. cuniculi) and Encephalitozoon intestinalis (E. intestinalis) was examined in 215 samples from humans and in 488 samples from five different species of domestic and companion animals in Slovakia. The 215 human samples and samples from 90 swine, 123 non-infected cattle (cattle), 24 cattle infected with bovine leukosis virus (BLV-positive cattle), 140 sheep and 111 dogs were examined by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Samples with serum titres 1:200 or higher were considered as positive. Specific anti-E. cuniculi antibodies were found in humans (0.9%), swine (52%), cattle (2%), sheep (9%) and dogs (15%) except for the BLV-positive cattle at the titre of 1:200. The titre of 1:400 was detected only in humans (0.5%). The presence of specific anti-E. intestinalis antibodies at the titre of 1:200 was confirmed in humans (6%), swine (51%), cattle (11%), BLV-positive cattle (13%) and dogs (6%) but not in sheep. The anti-E. intestinalis antibodies reached the 1:400 in humans (1%), swine (4%) and BLV-positive cattle (17%). The presence of specific anti-E. intes- tinalis antibodies at the titre of 1:600 was observed only in one swine (1%). Significant differences were observed in animals at titres 1:200 and 1:400 (chi-squared test: p < 0.0001) for both pathogens and in humans only for E. cuniculi at the titre of 1:400 (chi-squared test: p < 0.0075). Crown Copyright Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites that were re- cently reclassified from protozoa to fungi (Keeling and Doolittle, 1996; Keeling et al., 2000; Van de Peer et al., 2000; Keeling, 2003). Microsporidia are considered to be the cause of emerging infections in a wide range of animals and also in humans (Halánová et al., 2003; Bálent et al., 2004; Mathis et al., 2005; Valenc ˇáková et al., 2006; Valenc ˇáková et al., 2008; Santaniello et al., 2009). The species Encephalitozoon cuniculi (E. cuniculi) and Encephalito- zoon intestinalis (E. intestinalis) are the most spread microsporidian species in animals and humans and cause disease called encepha- litozoonosis. In 1995, the zoonotic character of Encephalitozoon spp. was confirmed and microsporidia became the subject of considerable interest of both veterinary and human medicine (De Grotte et al., 1995). Long-lasting subclinical infections usually develop in immunocompetent adult hosts infected with microspor- idia, while in immunodeficient or immunosuppressed hosts, such as patients with an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or those with organ transplants, clinically significant and poten- tially lethal infections may occur. Acute and frequently lethal infec- tions generally develop in hosts infected in the transplacental way (Valenc ˇáková et al., 2003). Microsporidian spores appear to be rel- atively resistant under environmental conditions and species of microsporidia capable of infecting humans and animals have been identified in water sources. There is an increasing concern about water-borne transmission among farm animals (Didier et al., 2004). Serological methods for the detection of microsporidia-specific antibodies include immunofluorescent antibody staining, comple- ment fixation, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and western immunoblot assays (Garcia, 2002). These tests require the use of microsporidia antigens and therefore microsporidial antigens that could be grown in cell cultures were cultivated for the detection of antibodies in microsporidia species. Serological testing is the method commonly used for diagnosing microspori- dial infections. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of specific anti-E. cuniculi and anti-E. intestinalis antibodies in ran- domly selected humans and animals. 0034-5288/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.rvsc.2010.03.020 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: malcekova@uvm.sk (B. Malc ˇeková). Research in Veterinary Science 89 (2010) 358–361 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Research in Veterinary Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rvsc