Studies on besnoitiosis bennetti in miniature donkeys

Besnoitia tissue cysts associated with the skin lesions recovered from the naturally-infected miniature donkeys (Equus asinus) during clinical examination were studied by the light and electron microscopy, as well as histochemically to elucidate the specific morphologic features of the cyst causing this disease. The cyst was differentiated phenotypically from those of other Besnoitia spp. The interpretation of results showed that morphometric attributes of the tissue cysts and the associated pathological changes in these donkeys were due to B. bennetti infection. The findings were confirmed by the phylogenetic analysis based on DNA sequences of the first internal transcribed spacer of nuclear rDNA. The cluster analysis showed that B. bennetti was distinct from all other Besnoitia spp. and positioned B. bennetti with parasites described from Besnoitia besnoiti of cattle and B. tarandi of reindeer. The genetic attributes complemented the morphological criteria and verified the accurate delimitation of the Besnoitia cysts isolated from these donkeys.