The zoonotic tapeworm Echinococcus equinus (G4) has been reported primarily in equines across Europe, Africa, and West Asia, but its presence in donkeys in Central Asia had not been documented. This knowledge gap is critical given the substantial and growing Kyrgyzstan–China trade of live donkeys. To assess the transboundary infection and associated risks, we conducted molecular surveillance on 1900 imported donkeys at a port slaughterhouse during November 2023–February 2024. A total of 52 hydatid cysts were collected from 18 infected animals. Protoscoleces were isolated from each cyst and examined microscopically for morphological observation and fertility assessment using Ponceau S staining. The protoscoleces were analyzed by PCR and sequencing of the cox1 and nad1 genes for species identification. The complete mitochondrial genome was sequenced on an Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform, assembled de novo using SPAdes, and annotated with MITOS. Furthermore, we performed infection with 530–4440 protoscoleces via intraperitoneal injection in C57BL/6 mice. Our results identified E. equinus in liver and lung cysts from 0.9% (18/1900) donkeys by complete mitochondrial genome (13,722 bp; GenBank: PX243530). Strikingly, liver cysts developed in 3 out of 18 C57BL/6 mice after 180 day postinfection. This study provides the first evidence of E. equinus infection in imported donkeys from Central Asia.
Cui et al. (Thu,) studied this question.