Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Antifungal drug testing on Malassezia yeast from dogs
By Cafarchia, Claudia et al.·Published in Veterinary microbiology·2012·Dipartimento di Sanità, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: In vitro antifungal susceptibility of Malassezia pachydermatis from dogs with and without skin lesions.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that dogs with skin lesions caused by the yeast Malassezia pachydermatis may have strains that are less responsive to antifungal treatments compared to healthy dogs. The researchers tested various antifungal medications, including ketoconazole and itraconazole, and found that these were generally effective against the yeast. However, dogs with skin issues had a higher chance of harboring resistant strains. This suggests that if your dog has a persistent skin infection, it might be necessary to reassess the antifungal treatment being used.
People also search for: dog skin infection treatment · Malassezia dermatitis in dogs · antifungal medications for dogs
Abstract
Canine Malassezia dermatitis is frequently treated with systemic ketoconazole (KTZ) and itraconazole (ITZ). However, no information is available on the antifungal susceptibility to azoles and allilamine of Malassezia pachydermatis isolates from dogs with or without skin lesions. The present study was designed to evaluate the in vitro antifungal susceptibility of M. pachydermatis strains from dogs with or without skin lesions to KTZ, ITZ, miconazole (MICO), fluconazole (FLZ), posaconazole (POS), voriconazole (VOR) and terbinafine (TER) using the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute reference Broth Microdilution Method (CLSI M27-A2). The association between the susceptibility to antifungal compounds and the origin of M. pachydermatis, from skin with or without lesions has been also assessed. A total of 62 M. pachydermatis strains from healthy dogs (i.e., Group A=30) or with skin lesions (i.e., Group B=32) were tested. ITZ, KTZ and POS showed the highest activity against M. pachydermatis strains, whereas MICO TER and FLZ the lowest. A higher number of Malassezia resistant strains were registered among isolates from Group B than those from Group A. This study indicates that M. pachydermatis strains were susceptible to ITZ, KTZ, and POS. However, dogs with lesions may harbour strains with low susceptibility to antifungal agents and displaying cross-resistance phenomena to azole. The antifungal therapy in Malassezia infections requires careful appraisal of choice of drugs especially in cases of unresponsiveness to antifungal treatment or recurrent infections.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21962411/