Over the last decade, Cryptococcus has gained a medical importance, as it becomes an emerging pathogen of immune-competent individuals. Despite, the worldwide geographical expansion of Cryptococcus spp. and the changes in its host preference, there are no epidemiological data regarding the occurrence of these fungi in donkeys. The current study was carried out to investigate the possible role of donkeys in the epidemiology of such disease in Egypt. Bacteriological isolation and identification of nasal swabs gathered from 52 diseased and healthy donkeys at different localities in Egypt evidenced that, the overall occurrence of Cryptococcus spp. Was 11.5%.The highest percent was recorded in El-Fayoum Governorate (25) followed by Cairo Governorate (10).The lowest percent of Cryptococcus spp. was recorded in Giza Governorate. Phenotypic identification of Cryptococcus spp. among healthy and diseased donkeys indicated that 13.2 % and 7.1% of
the examined donkeys were positive for this pathogen, respectively. The study of the potential risk factors (age, gender, and the health condition) related to the colonization of Cryptococcus in the examined animals revealed no statistically significant differences. Molecular serotyping of six identified Cryptococcus spp. evidenced that C.gattii was isolated from the nasal passages of four healthy examined donkeys (7.7%); while the other two isolates of C.neoformans serotype A (3.8%) were identified in healthy and diseased donkeys. Among the 6 positive donkeys, clinical condition was recorded in only one 12
year-old male donkey (16.7%) with stomatitis. To our best knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the emergence of Cryptococcus spp. in donkeys, it also highlights a possible association of those fungi with human disease in Egypt. Accordingly, the knowledge obtained from the current study provides a useful tool to start anew epidemiological surveys.
Further investigations of the virulence of those pathogens should also be considered, in order to improve current therapeutic and control strategies.