Albendazole/ivermectin combination therapy is a promising alternative to benzimidazole monotherapy alone for Trichuris trichiura control. We used fecal DNA metabarcoding to genetically characterize Trichuris spp. populations in patient samples from Côte d’Ivoire showing lower (egg reduction rate <70%) albendazole/ivermectin sensitivity than those from Laos and Tanzania (egg reduction rates >98%). Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) 1 and ITS2 metabarcoding revealed the entire detected Côte d'Ivoire Trichuris population was phylogenetically distinct from T. trichiura found in Laos and Tanzania and was more closely related to T. suis. Mitochondrial genome sequencing of 8 adult Trichuris worms from Côte d’Ivoire confirmed their species-level differentiation. Sequences from human patients in Cameroon and Uganda and 3 captive nonhuman primates suggest this novel species, T. incognita, is distributed beyond Côte d'Ivoire and has zoonotic potential. Continued surveillance by using fecal DNA metabarcoding will be needed to determine Trichuris spp. geographic distribution and control strategies.

阿苯达唑/伊维菌素联合治疗是单独使用苯并咪唑单药治疗控制鞭虫的一种很有前途的替代疗法。我们使用粪便 DNA 宏条形码对科特迪瓦患者样本中的鞭虫属群体进行遗传表征，显示阿苯达唑/伊维菌素敏感性低于老挝和坦桑尼亚患者（鸡蛋减少率 >98%）（鸡蛋减少率 >98%）。内部转录间隔区 （ITS） 1 和 ITS2 元条形码显示，整个检测到的科特迪瓦鞭虫种群在系统发育上与老挝和坦桑尼亚发现的 T. trichiura 不同，并且与 T. suis 的关系更密切。来自科特迪瓦的 8 种成年鞭虫的线粒体基因组测序证实了它们的物种水平分化。来自喀麦隆和乌干达人类患者以及 3 只圈养非人类灵长类动物的序列表明，这种新物种 T. incognita 分布在科特迪瓦以外，具有人畜共患的潜力。需要使用粪便 DNA 宏条形码进行持续监测，以确定 Trichuris spp. 地理分布和控制策略。