Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Sporothrix fungus found on claws of a cat in São Paulo
By Borges, Tatiana Saleme et al.·Published in Mycopathologia·2013·Department of Internal Medicine, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Isolation of Sporothrix schenckii from the claws of domestic cats (indoor and outdoor) and in captivity in São Paulo (Brazil).
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A domestic cat in São Paulo was found to have a rare fungal infection called sporotrichosis, which can be passed to humans. Out of 132 cats tested, only one had the fungus, and this cat showed signs of the disease. The infection was serious enough that it also affected a veterinarian who treated the cat. Fortunately, the overall chance of cats spreading this infection in the area is low, as only a small percentage tested positive for the fungus.
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Abstract
Sporotrichosis is a subcutaneous mycosis and is also a zoonosis (sapro- and anthropozoonosis). The objective of the present study was to determine the occurrence of sporotrichosis in domestic cats and in wild or exotic felines in captivity through the isolation of Sporothrix spp. from claw impressions in a culture medium. The samples included 132 felines, of which 120 (91.0 %) were domestic cats, 11 (8.3 %) were wild felines, and one (0.7 %) was an exotic felid. Twenty-one (17.5 %) were outdoor cats. Of the total, 89 (67.4 %) had contact with other animals of the same species. It was possible to isolate Sporothrix schenckii from the claws of one (0.7 %) of the felids probed; this animal exhibited generalised sporotrichosis and had infected a female veterinarian. The potential pathogenic agents Microsporum canis and Malassezia pachydermatis were isolated in 12.1 and 5.3 % of the animals, respectively. The following anemophilous fungi, which were considered to be contaminants, were also isolated: Penicillium sp. (28 or 21.2 %), Aspergillus sp. (13 or 9.8 %), Rhodotorula sp. (5 or 3.8 %), Candida sp. (5 or 3.8 %), Trichoderma sp. (1 or 0.7 %), and Acremonium sp. (1 or 0.7 %). Due to the low magnitude of occurrence (0.7 %) of Sporothrix in feline claws, the potential of the cats evaluated in this study to be sources of infection in the city of São Paulo is considerably low.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23729233/