Global prevalence of spp. in pigs: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

spp. are significant opportunistic pathogens causing diarrhoea in humans and animals. Pigs are one of the most important potential hosts for . We evaluated the prevalence of in pigs globally using published information and a random-effects model. In total, 131 datasets from 36 countries were included in the final quantitative analysis. The global prevalence of in pigs was 16.3% (8560/64 809; 95% confidence interval [CI] 15.0–17.6%). The highest prevalence of in pigs was 40.8% (478/1271) in Africa. Post-weaned pigs had a significantly higher prevalence (25.8%; 2739/11 824) than pre-weaned, fattening and adult pigs. The prevalence of was higher in pigs with no diarrhoea (12.2%; 371/3501) than in pigs that had diarrhoea (8.0%; 348/4874). Seven species (, , , , , and ) were detected in pigs globally. The proportion of was 34.3% (1491/4351); the proportion of was 31.8% (1385/4351) and the proportion of was 2.3% (98/4351). The influence of different geographic factors (latitude, longitude, mean yearly temperature, mean yearly relative humidity and mean yearly precipitation) on the infection rate of in pigs was also analysed. The results indicate that is the dominant species in pre-weaned pigs, while is the dominant species in fattening and adult pigs. The findings highlight the role of pigs as possible potential hosts of zoonotic cryptosporidiosis and the need for additional studies on the prevalence, transmission and control of in pigs.