Genetic analysis of Echinococcus granulosus from humans and pigs in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. A multicenter study

Mitochondrial NDI gene sequences were obtained from 56 isolates of E. granu losus from pigs collected in Central and East Europe (Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine) and from 5 isolates of E. granulosus from humans collected in Pola nd. No differences have been found between isolates from all pigs and betwe en those from pigs and humans; all sequences were identical or very similar to the published sequence of the G7 strain. Additionally, 21 clones of the ITS I rDNA obtained from 5 isolates of E. granulosus collected from pigs i n 3 countries and 1 human isolate from Poland, were sequenced. Our data do not confirm the existence of specific G9 strain of E. granulosus in humans (Scott et nl. 1997). Moreover, high sequence divergence found between and w ithin the isolates indicates a strong polymorphism of ITS rDNA copies makin g use of this gene for identification of E. granulosus strains and reconstr uction of their phylogenetic relationships questionable.