CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The ciliate species Balantioides coli can be cross-transmitted between humans and several animal species. Usually harmless, sometimesit can be pathogenic and cause the death of the host. In birds, B. coli has been confirmed in ostriches by genetic analysis, but theidentification from South American greater rheas (Rhea americana) and lesser rheas (Rhea pennata pennata) is tentative. Since thesespecies are reared for commercial purposes and for reintroduction into the wild, it is necessary to elucidate whether the ciliate from rheasis B. coli to minimize health risks for humans and for other domestic and wild animals. Individual parasite cells are collected fromArgentinean isolates of reared greater rheas and of wild and reared lesser rheas, and their ITS region was PCR amplified; the cloningproducts were sequenced and compared with sequences available in public databases. The results have shown that several sequencetypes are expressed at the same time in the parasite cells, and all correspond to B. coli, confirming the possibility of cross-transmissionof the parasite between wild and reared South American rheas and several mammal species and humans.