<p style="text-align: justify;">Pet animals mostly suffer from dermatophytic infections and these animals can easily transmit the infection to their handlers or pet owners. Study of 362 clinically suspected cases of dermatophytic infections collected mainly from dogs (n=123), cats (n=202) and few pet owners (n=37) in and around Kolkata, was conducted to detect a total of 285 (78.7%) samples to be positive for significant dermatophytic fungal infections, with cats to be the highest in prevalence (55.4%) followed by dogs (37.9%) and human beings (6.7%) respectively. Microsporum canis (60.0%) was the most prevalent pathogen in comparison to M. gypseum (22.5%), Trychophyton mentagrophytes (15.8%) and T. rubrum (1.7%) affecting dogs, cats and human beings. T. rubrum was detected only from human cases in this study. Male dogs (58.3%), cats (51.3%) and human patients (78.9%) were mostly infected than the female ones. The anti-fungal susceptibility pattern of these isolates revealed lower MIC50 values of 0.06-0.125&micro;g/ml for Ketoconazole, Itraconazole, Miconazole, and Amphotericin-B but not for Fluconazole (8-16&micro;g/ml). The MIC90 values of these antifungal agents were as low as 0.03&micro;g/ml for all drugs except Fluconazole (32&micro;g/ml).&nbsp;</p>


<p>Characterization and anti-fungal susceptibility pattern of dermatophytes isolated from dogs, cats and pet owners in and around Kolkata, India<br />
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<div>Dermatophytosis is a common fungal condition of skin having zoonotic importance. Unconventional use of antimycotics and persistence in environment due to improper disinfection often leads to resistance and treatment failure. The purpose of this study was to observe in-vitro efficacy of different antimycotics and disinfectants against Microsporum canis. Skin scraping samples from affected cats were cultured and purified. Conidia were harvested from cultured colonies and count of 1.0 x 106/mL was adjusted by hemocytometer. Harvested conidial suspensions were inoculated on Mueller Hinton Agar (MHA) with antimycotic disks and incubated, then inhibition zone diameters were measured. Same conidial suspensions were inoculated with each disinfectant separately on Dermatophyte Test Medium (DTM) petri plates and colonies were enumerated after incubation. The data suggested that Itraconazole had maximum in-vitro effect followed by Miconazole, Clotrimazole and Ketoconazole, whereas Fluconazole demonstrated resistance. On the other hand, 5% phenol, 3% Hydrogen Peroxide, 1:10 sodium hypochlorite solutions were equally effective against M. canis spores.</div>


<div><em>In Vitro</em> Susceptibility Testing of Different Antimycotics and Disinfectants against <em>Microsporum canis</em> Isolated from Clinical Cases of Feline Dermatophytosis</div>


Characterization and anti-fungal susceptibility pattern of dermatophytes isolated from dogs, cats and pet owners in and around Kolkata, India

In Vitro Susceptibility Testing of Different Antimycotics and Disinfectants against Microsporum canis Isolated from Clinical Cases of Feline Dermatophytosis