Abstract
BackgroundFungal infection of animals or humans are common all over the world. Some of microorganisms like fungi, exist on the skin and can be transmitted onto other individuals, other animal species or even humans and cause skin infections. Moreover, they can be the causative agents of severe generalized infections especially in immunocompromised individuals. The study aimed to evaluate the most frequent etiological agents of skin diseases and to compare the prevalence of animal fungal infections in Poland, and to discuss the possibility of transmission to humans in Poland.ResultsThe obtained results are culture based. The fungi most frequently isolated from group of animals with skin lesions were Malassezia pachydermatis (29.14%), and Candida yeasts (27.07%), and dermatophytes (23.5%), including Microsporum canis as majority of them (59.25%), and Trichophyton genus (40.7%), most of them T. mentagrophytes, while Malassezia pachydermatis represented (80%) of isolates in animals with otitis externa. In over 19% of positive fungal cultures obtained from external ear canals Candida yeasts, mainly C. albicans, were identified.ConclusionsDermatomycoses in companion animals are caused by both, mycelial fungi and yeasts. Most frequently isolated were Malassezia pachydermatis and Candida spp. Dermatophytes (Trichophyton, Microsporum), were also cultured, but the total number of these isolates seems to decrease. We have not found Cryptococcus neoformans in tested clinical samples.
Highlights
Fungal infection of animals or humans are common all over the world
The percentage of positive mycological cultures was lower in animals with dermatitis than in animals with otitis externa - 38.18% vs. 71.42%, respectively
In the group of animals suffering from dermatitis, yeasts were discovered in 56.2% of positive cultures (Malassezia pachydermatis in 29.1%, Candida spp. in 27.1%, respectively), while dermatophytes were the etiological agents of skin disease in 23.5% of cases
Summary
Fungal infection of animals or humans are common all over the world. Some of microorganisms like fungi, exist on the skin and can be transmitted onto other individuals, other animal species or even humans and cause skin infections. The most common route of infection is aerogenic, inhalation of fungal spores present in the air, is the frequent way to acquire the fungi. In such cases the Dworecka-Kaszak et al BMC Veterinary Research (2020) 16:248 recent years, many experiments have been conducted to examine the natural skin microbiome of healthy skin in humans and some animals, especially companion animals [6,7,8]. Meason-Smith et al [6], have performed the experiments aiming at characterization of fungal microbiota in dogs and evaluating the influence of body site and health status on the mycobiota. The results of our previous investigation of healthy dogs mycobiota are basically compatible with these data [11]
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