Fungi and animals : Dermatomycosis in animals and man

O'Sullivan, James Gildea (1962) Fungi and animals : Dermatomycosis in animals and man. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

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Abstract

Laboratory investigation of 728 animals, comprising the ox, horse, dog, cat, mouse, chinchilla and goat, suspected of ringworm in Scotland, revealed that 344 (47.2%.) were positive; 252 (34.6%.) both by microscopy and culture, 32 (4.4%.) by culture alone and 60 (8.2%.) only by microscopy. Dermatophytes were isolated on 285 occasions viz: Trichophyton verrucosum, 195 (68.2%.); Microsporum canis, 45 (15.8%); T. mentagrophytes, 15 (5.3%.); T. equinum, 14 (4.9%.); M. equinum, 6 (2.1%.); T. quinckeanum, 5 (1.8%.); M. gypseum, 1 (0.3%.); T. rubrum, 1 (0,3%.); and Trichophyton sp., 3 (0.9%.). There were fewer positive results in horse, dog or cat than in cattle, a probable indication that differential diagnosis is more difficult in those animals than in cattle. T. verrucosum was the dermatophyte most frequently recovered and 96%. of those isolates were from cattle, the remainder being from horses and dogs. Apart from a single isolation of T. montagrophytes, the only dermatophyte found on cattle was T. verrucosum. M. Canis was recovered only from dogs and cats where it occurred to an almost equal degree. Wood's light was a useful diagnostic aid but not all cases fluoresced. It was absent in 9 of 20 canine, and 5 of 20 feline, cases. All 6 species of host, affected by dormatophytes, harboured T.mentagrophytes and most isolations were from dogs and cats. It was the only dermatophyte recovered from mouse and chinchilla. Since it causes human dermatomycosis the wide host range of this fungus constitutes a potential public health hazard although domestic animals are less important in this respect than are rodents. T. equinum, found only on horses, was present, on one occasion, in association with M. equinum. T. quinckeanum recovered from 4 cats and 1 dog was not isolated from mice which are the reservoir of that fungus. M. gypseum and T. rubrum wore single isolates from dogs and since the incidence of M. gypseurp ringworm in that host is high in the United States and the fungus is a ubiquitous soil inhabitant, it was thought unusual that there was only one canine isolate in the present series. T. rubrum was the only anthropophilic dermatophyte recovered from an animal. The incidence of ringworm was not particularly associated with either sex of the animals investigated. Ago and seasonal incidence, appearance and location of lesions and differential diagnosis for each host were considered. The histopathology of bovine and feline ringworm was studied in biopsied material from experimental infections. The isolation of T. rubrum, T. quinckeanum and M. gypseum from dogs are new British host records while T. quinckeanum from a cat and T. verrucosum from a horse are new isolations from those animals, in Scotland. During an investigation to correlate human and, animal ringworm, the same zoophilic dermatophyte was recovered from suspected animals and from humans on 52 (23%.) occasions; on 6 (2.7%.) a different zoophilic fungus was isolated from each source. Sixteen people, suspecting animals as the probable source of infection, harboured anthropophilic dermatophytes and in no instance was the same fungus recovered from the suspected animal. Cattle were the main reservoir of infection, there being 111 (49.5%.) confirmed human cases while only 7 (3%.) human infections were traceable to a small-animal source, Thus 118 (52.6%.) human cases were correlated with zoophilic fungi in animals. Seven people named cattle as the source of infection and although the cattle were infected (by T. verrucosum) the humans harboured different dermatophytes namely, T. mentagrophytes, 3; M. canis, 3; T. tonsurans van sulfureum, 1. On 15 occasions anthropophilic fungi were isolated from humans but not from suspected animals. Thirty six small animals were thought to be the source of human ringworm but it was confirmed in only 7 of them. Thus, on 57 (25.4%.) occasions either an animal source was erroneously given or a wrong animal was suggested. Animals form a reservoir for human ringworm, in this area, but cattle rather than domestic pets are the main source of human infection. Treatment of animal dermatomycosis is discussed and results are given of the use of oral griseofulvin against experimentally induced ringworm in cattle and in oats and against spontaneous infection in ox, dog and chinchilla. Establishment of infection was prevented and, clinical cases were cured. The mode of action of the drug is considered and the public health significance of clinically cured animals, which may still be carriers of infection, is discussed.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Qualification Level: Doctoral
Additional Information: Adviser: J W Emslie
Keywords: Veterinary science, Animal diseases
Date of Award: 1962
Depositing User: Enlighten Team
Unique ID: glathesis:1962-72062
Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
Date Deposited: 17 May 2019 13:10
Last Modified: 17 May 2019 13:10
URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/72062

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