''Besnoitia bennetti'' is a

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

that can cause besnoitiosis infections in

donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...

s. The range of this organism ranges from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. ''B. bennettii'' shares similar characteristics with

Toxoplasma ''Toxoplasma gondii'' () is an obligate intracellular parasitic protozoan (specifically an apicomplexan) that causes toxoplasmosis. Found worldwide, ''T. gondii'' is capable of infecting virtually all warm-blooded animals, but felids, such as d ...

Neospora ''Neospora'' is a single celled parasite of livestock and companion animals. It was not discovered until 1984 in Norway, where it was found in dogs. Neosporosis, the disease that affects cattle and companion animals, has a worldwide distribution ...

, and Sarcocystis

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

. Lab work on''B. bennetti'' is conducted at biosafety level 1.

Range

''Besnoitia bennetti'' originated in Africa, causing besnoitiosis in donkeys and

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

s there. Currently, the organism exists in

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, and the

. The first recorded infection of this species was documented in 1927 in

. The species was believed to have spread from the Nuba Mountains. The first documented case in the United States occurred in 1957, when the species was found in the skin of burros.

Pathogenesis

The instance of this species in a medical journal was in 1927, in an article written by S.C.J. Bennett. In an expedition to Sudan, Bennett found four horses that had developed cysts consistent with what was eventually called besnoitiosis. Bennett at first mistakenly believed that the infection he found was caused by species of Sarcocystis or Globidium and that the organism infected cattle in addition to horses. In 1932, the species was placed into the Besnoitia genus by Babudieri. The first instance of an infection in South Africa appeared in a medical journal in 1955. ''B. bennetti'' was discovered in the United States in 1973 in an experimental herd of Mexican burros.

Diagnosis

In infected donkeys, ''B. bennetti'' formed cysts in the eyes, mouth, and testes. The mode of transmission among donkeys has not been determined. Treatments with

ponazuril Ponazuril (International Nonproprietary Name, INN), sold by Merial, Inc., now part of Boehringer Ingelheim, under the trade name Marquis® (15% w/w ponazuril), is a drug currently approved for the treatment of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (E ...

trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, sold under the brand name Bactrim among others, is a fixed-dose combination antibiotic medication used to treat a variety of bacterial infections. It consists of one part trimethoprim to five parts sulfamethoxazo ...

, and nitroxinide have been unable to clear infection. While ''B. bennetti'' has only been found to infect donkeys, it has experimentally been shown not to infect mice, rats, gerbils, or cats.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Besnoitia Bennetti Conoidasida