molecular detection of neo balantidium coli in fecal samples of the eurasian wild boar, sus scrofa in bushehr province, southwestern iran

Balantidium coli is a common parasite of wild boars (sus scrofa) which can infect humans and several species of mammals. here, we evaluated the genetic diversity of b. coli inwild boars in bushehr province, southwestern iran. fourteen fecal samples, originating from 14 wild boars captivated in our previous study, were processed. dna was extracted from the fecal samples and pcr‐amplified using gene marker (ssrdna). a phylogenetic tree was constructed, using megax software, to find out the phylogenetic diversity of the isolates.we detected balantidium dna in the faecal samples of 3 out of 14 (21%) of the wild boars. blast analysis of 3 isolates revealed that the isolates belong to the newly introduced genus neobalantidium coli. sequences of three isolates were deposited in the genbank. phylogenetic analysis revealed that the sequences of isolates of this study have up to 3.1% dissimilarity from those published in the genbank.conclusion: balantidiasis is considered as an often‐neglected disease which has not received much attention. findings of our study revealed that the isolates of balantidium, originating from wild boars from southwest of iran, belongs to the genus n. coli. furtherstudiesinthis field, especially in other areas of iran, may explore other aspects of this protozoan in the country.