Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Asymptomatic fungal infection in dogs and cats in northern Iran
By Oladzad, Vahid et al.Ā·Published in Journal de mycologie medicaleĀ·2024Ā·Department of MycologyĀ·View original on PubMed ā
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Original publication title: Asymptomatic colonization of stray dogs and domestic cats with Trichophyton mentagrophytes II in Northern Iran.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that 19 stray dogs and one cat in Northern Iran tested positive for a type of fungus called Trichophyton mentagrophytes, which can cause skin infections. Most of these animals showed no symptoms, meaning they were carrying the fungus without any visible signs of illness. The researchers tested various antifungal medications and found that luliconazole and terbinafine were very effective against this fungus. While the presence of this fungus in asymptomatic dogs raises concerns about potential health risks, no cases of a more dangerous strain were found in the area.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Despite changes in the epidemiology of dermatophyte infections, the incidence of fungal infections associated with Trichophyton species still remains high among dogs and cats. The objective of the present study was to isolate and characterize dermatophytes from dogs and cats in Iran. METHOD: From December 2022 to May 2023, skin and hair samples were collected from symptomatic and asymptomatic cats and dogs in Mazandaran, a northern province of Iran. The samples were then inoculated into Mycosel™ Agar. Dermatophyte isolates were identified by sequencing the internal transcribed spacer region. Antifungal susceptibility tests were conducted using the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI-M38-A3). RESULT: Of the 250 samples collected (from 200 dogs and 50 cats), 20 (from 19 dogs and one cat) (8.0 %) were positive for dermatophyte growth. Based on sequence and phylogenetic analysis, all isolates belonged to T. mentagrophytes II*. Of these positive samples, 14 (70.0 %), 3 (15.0 %), 2 (10.0 %), and 1 (2.0 %) were isolated from asymptomatic stray dogs, symptomatic stray dogs, symptomatic domestic dogs, and symptomatic cats, respectively. Luliconazole and terbinafine displayed potent activity against all T. mentagrophytes isolates, with Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 0.016 µg/ml. Miconazole and griseofulvin demonstrated higher MIC (1 and 8 µg/ml). CONCLUSION: The present study indicated that T. mentagrophytes II* asymptomatic carriage is frequent in stray dogs in Iran. The potential risk to public health needs to be evaluated However, T. mentagrophytes genotype VIII, considered as an endemic and emerging human pathogenic clone in several countries, was not detected during the present survey.
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Search related cases āOriginal publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38986423/