Molecular surveillance and genetic diversity of Klossiella equi in European equids using kidney and urine samples.

Authors

Sára Lukšíková, Ondřej Daněk, Francesco Buono, Stefan O Rabei, Eduardo Berriatua, Pedro Sánchez, Štěpán Bodeček, Petr Jahn, Mariel G Pikkemaat, Elizabeth G Zeldenrust, Vincenzo Veneziano, Andrei D Mihalca, David Modrý

Published in

Frontiers in veterinary science. Volume 13. Pages 1862055. Epub Jul 13, 2026.

Abstract

Klossiella equi is a renal apicomplexan parasite of equids, yet current knowledge regarding its clinical impact, geographic distribution and genetic diversity is limited.
This study investigated apparent molecular prevalence and genetic variability of K. equi in opportunistically collected kidney and urine samples from 284 equids across five European countries (the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, and Spain). Detection was determined using a conventional PCR assay. Genetic analysis using mitochondrial markers was performed on a subset of 38 PCR-positive samples, selected to ensure geographic representation.
Klossiella equi DNA was detected in 33% of sampled equids (94/284) with positivity rates of 31.0% in kidney and 25.6% in urine. Agreement between 82 paired kidney-urine samples was moderate (Cohen's kappa=0.5; 95% CI: 0.3-0.7). Using a composite reference standard, urine testing showed an apparent sensitivity and specificity of 65.6% and 100%, respectively. Sanger sequencing of the selected subset revealed low genetic variability with 2 (cytB) to 4 (COI) observed haplotypes per marker and limited divergence among European isolates. The most genetically distinct haplotypes for all three markers were detected in Italian mule and donkey samples.
These findings indicate that K. equi occurs in equids from multiple European countries and exhibits low genetic variability. Despite limited sensitivity, urine PCR may serve as non-invasive screening and surveillance tool for K. equi and should enable further research addressing epidemiology, potential pathogenicity and clinical relevance of this equine parasite.

PMID:
42516302
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Jul 2026.

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