Dermatomycosis — a Potential Source of Zoonotic Infection in Cities

Skin infections in animals and humans represent a complex syndrome that is, from etiological point of view, often hard to solve. Skin is one of the largest organs and plays an important role in the organism of mammals. Depending on the age, it presents 5—8% of total body mass in humans, 12% of adult animals, and even up to 24% in newly born animals. The population of pets and stray dogs in cities provides a possibility for contacts between animals and/or humans, which is a mode of transmission for some diseases. Fungal diseases in dogs caused by dermatophyte are zoonosis, contagious infections that affect dogs and cats, but also other animals, as well as humans. There has been an overall increase in the number of the cases caused by anthropophilic fungi from the strain of Microsporum spp. and Trichophyton spp. Our research was related to animals with different changes on skin manifested by hairless surfaces, dandruff, red skin and extensive pruritus. The objective of our examination was the analyses of scarified samples and swob from canine skin with the aim to determine whether the changes were caused by dermatophytosis. Our aim was to point out the possibility of transmission of mycotic infections from animals to humans in households. For this mycological examination swobs and skin scarifications from dogs, were used. The samples were streaked on Sabo and dextrose agar and incubated at 25°C for at least 21 days. In one year period 81 samples were collected out of which 11 (13.58%) were positive for dermatophyte. In all samples Microsporum canis was isolated. The findings of Microsporum canis in 13.58% of the examined samples indicate the importance of mycological skin disorder in pets. Having in mind that this is a zoonosis, the findings point to a possibility of exposing the humans to fungal infection, affecting almost all pet owners, especially in urban environment.