Abstract
The involvement of animals for therapeutic purposes has very ancient roots. To date, it is clear that animal-assisted interventions (AAIs), in addition to ensuring the replacement of missing or deficient affects, improves psychophysiological parameters connected to human health. However, AAI could potentially present risks related to the transmission of infectious agents from animals to humans. Among these microorganisms, E. cuniculi is a microspore which induces pathological effects (fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, breathlessness, respiratory symptoms, and weakness) in both humans and animals. Consequently, an accurate and fast diagnosis of E. cuniculi infection, as well as the identification of new diagnostic approaches, is of fundamental importance. This literature review was carried out to provide an extensive and comprehensive analysis of the most recent diagnostic techniques to prevent and care for E. cuniculi-associated risks in the AAI field.
Highlights
Encephalitozoon cuniculi is a microsporidial, unicellular, spore-forming, obligate intracellular parasite and may infect different mammalian hosts, such as lagomorph, rodents, domestic carnivores, ruminants, and other animal species including non-human primates and humans [1,2,3]
The results revealed a seroprevalence of E. cuniculi of 77.3% and 11.4% in group I and group II, respectively
E. cuniculi produces environmentally resistant spores that inoculate the infective sporoplasm into the host cell through a polar tube
Summary
Encephalitozoon cuniculi is a microsporidial, unicellular, spore-forming, obligate intracellular parasite and may infect different mammalian hosts, such as lagomorph, rodents, domestic carnivores, ruminants, and other animal species including non-human primates and humans [1,2,3]. This microsporidium represents an opportunistic pathogen in human patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and other immunocompromised people [4,5,6,7]. Highly reduced and small mitochondria, named mitosomes, have been identified at the level of the cell organelle and are considered to be an important distinctive feature of microsporidia. Microsporidial spores possess fungal elements comprising fungal proteins, such as tubulins, trehalose, and chitin [12]
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