{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,26]],"date-time":"2026-09-26T02:26:49Z","timestamp":1790389609486,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,10]],"date-time":"2021-09-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1631232000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003668","name":"Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["320005-4"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["320005-4"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003668","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100008771","name":"Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["B-1543069-2021-22-03"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["B-1543069-2021-22-03"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100008771","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Regional Innovation Strategy","award":["2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2020"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Balantioides coli is a zoonotic protozoan parasite whose main reservoir is pigs. Recent studies have shown that B. coli variant A but not B has zoonotic potential. While B. coli infection has been reported in different animals and countries, the prevalence of the zoonotic variant is limited due to a lack of molecular information. Therefore, this study investigated the prevalence of B. coli in domestic pigs in Korea and assessed its zoonotic potential. A total of 188 pig fecal samples were collected from slaughterhouses in Korea. B. coli was identified by microscopy and molecular methods. B. coli was identified in 79 (42.9%) and 174 (94.6%) samples by microscopy and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), respectively. This study also developed a PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method to differentiate B. coli variant A from B without sequence analysis. Using this method, 62 (33.7%) and 160 (87.0%) samples were positive for variants A and B, respectively, and 48 (26.1%) samples were co-infected with both variants. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses showed a high genetic diversity of B. coli in pigs in Korea. To our knowledge, this is the first study to develop a method to differentiate B. coli variants A and B without sequence analysis and to assess the molecular epidemiology of B. coli in pigs. Continuous monitoring of zoonotic B. coli in pigs should be performed as pigs are the main source of human balantidiasis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani11092659","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,10]],"date-time":"2021-09-10T10:31:34Z","timestamp":1631269894000},"page":"2659","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["Identification of Zoonotic Balantioides coli in Pigs by Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and Its Distribution in Korea"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Jae-Won","family":"Byun","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, Gimcheon 39660, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jung-Hyun","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bo-Youn","family":"Moon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, Gimcheon 39660, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kichan","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency, Gimcheon 39660, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5087-6359","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wan-Kyu","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0876-3179","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dongmi","family":"Kwak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6244-0381","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Seung-Hun","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1016\/j.vetpar.2008.06.024","article-title":"Tentative identification of the species of Balantidium from ostriches (Struthio camelus) as Balantidium coli-like by analysis of polymorphic DNA","volume":"157","year":"2008","journal-title":"Vet. 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