Characterization and anti-fungal susceptibility pattern of dermatophytes isolated from dogs, cats and pet owners in and around Kolkata, India

Abstract

Pet animals mostly suffer from dermatophytic infections and these animals can easily transmit the infection to their handlers or pet owners. Study of 362 clinically suspected cases of dermatophytic infections collected mainly from dogs (n=123), cats (n=202) and few pet owners (n=37) in and around Kolkata, was conducted to detect a total of 285 (78.7%) samples to be positive for significant dermatophytic fungal infections, with cats to be the highest in prevalence (55.4%) followed by dogs (37.9%) and human beings (6.7%) respectively. Microsporum canis (60.0%) was the most prevalent pathogen in comparison to M. gypseum (22.5%), Trychophyton mentagrophytes (15.8%) and T. rubrum (1.7%) affecting dogs, cats and human beings. T. rubrum was detected only from human cases in this study. Male dogs (58.3%), cats (51.3%) and human patients (78.9%) were mostly infected than the female ones. The anti-fungal susceptibility pattern of these isolates revealed lower MIC50 values of 0.06-0.125µg/ml for Ketoconazole, Itraconazole, Miconazole, and Amphotericin-B but not for Fluconazole (8-16µg/ml). The MIC90 values of these antifungal agents were as low as 0.03µg/ml for all drugs except Fluconazole (32µg/ml).

ZafA Gene Is Important for Trichophyton mentagrophytes Growth and Pathogenicity

“…Many epidemiological studies have shown that T. mentagrophytes is globally distributed, and is one of the most frequent or common pathogens of fungal skin disease [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Some animals, including rabbits, foxes, minks, cats, and dogs are the natural hosts of T. mentagrophytes , which causes skin diseases in these animals and affects their fur quality [ 9 , 10 ]. In cases of low immunity or a damaged skin barrier, close contact with the above-mentioned sick animals can easily result in fungal skin diseases [ 11 ].…”