Novel insights into the genetic diversity of Balantidium and Balantidium-like cyst-forming ciliates.
Balantidiasis is considered a neglected zoonotic disease with pigs serving as reservoir hosts.However, Balantidium coli has been recorded in many other mammalian species, including primates.Here, we evaluated the genetic diversity of B.coli in non-human primates using two gene markers (SSrDNA and ITS1-5.8SDNA-ITS2).We analyzed 49 isolates of ciliat