Encephalitozoon

Hinney, Barbara, Sak, Bohumil, Joachim, Anja & Kva ́ ̆ c, Martin, 2016, More than a rabbit's tale - Encephalitozoon spp. in wild mammals and birds, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 5 (1), pp. 76-87 : 82

3.2.1. Encephalitozoon in the order primates

In great apes the geographical distribution of different Encephalitozoon species seems to vary so location of affected animals seems to determine which species of pathogen is present ( Table 1). While Western lowland gorillas from a Central African Republican free-ranging population, kept in a sanctuary in Cameroon and in various zoos in Poland, Germany and France, were positive for the presence of E. cuniculi genotype I and II ( Sak et al., 2011b), only E. hellem was detected in three free-ranging animals from Cameroon ( Butel et al., 2015). Similarly, in bonobos ( Pan paniscus ) and common chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) screened by Butel et al. (2015) from Cameroon, only E. hellem was detected, while the same species kept in sanctuaries in Kenya and Cameroon and various zoos in UK, Germany, Spain, Slovakia, Ireland and the Czech Republic was mostly positive for E. cuniculi genotype I and II, E. hellem was detected in two cases only ( Sak et al., 2011b). This demonstrates the ubiquitous character and low host specificity of this genus.