Morphological detection of dermatophytes isolated from cattle in Wasit province

Abstract

This study aimed to diagnose the skin lesions in cattle that were suspected to be ringworm in order to determine the species causing these lesions. A total of 40 samples of skin desquamation and hair lesions were collected from cattle in a farm located in the Wasit province during the period from October 2021 to March 2022. Diagnosis used to be carried out the usage of direct microscopy of potassium hydroxide, isolation of the fungus through the use of Sabouraud dextrose agar supplemented with chloramphenicol and cycloheximide, as well as by way of detecting those fungi through staining with Lactophenol cotton blue. The diagnosis results revealed that infection of cattle with ringworm represented 20/40 (50%) of skin lesions and the majority of the common dermatophytes spp was identified as Trichophyton mentagrophytes 15/20 (75%) and Microsporum canis5/20 (25%) depending on the fungal growth. In conclusion, the most common skin lesions of cattle in Wasit province were identified as ringworm.