Isolation of Sporothrix schenckii From the Claws of ... - Springer Link

Mycopathologia (2013) 176:129–137 DOI 10.1007/s11046-013-9658-8

Isolation of Sporothrix schenckii From the Claws of Domestic Cats (Indoor and Outdoor) and in Captivity in Saõ Paulo (Brazil) Tatiana Saleme Borges • Claudio Nazaretian Rossi • Jose´ Daniel Luzes Fedullo • Joaõ Pelleschi Taborda • Carlos Eduardo Larsson

Received: 18 September 2012 / Accepted: 13 April 2013 / Published online: 2 June 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

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,

T. S. Borges C. N. Rossi C. E. Larsson (&) Department of Internal Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Saõ Paulo, Av. Prof. Dr. Orlando Marques de Paiva, 87, Butanta˜, Saõ Paulo (SP) 05508-270, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] T. S. Borges e-mail: [email protected]

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 Saõ Paulo is considerably low. Keywords Felids

Sporotrichosis Sporothrix spp. Claws

C. N. Rossi e-mail: [email protected] J. D. L. Fedullo J.B.World Entretenimentos, Rua Inaćio Francisco de Souza, 1597, Penha, Santa Catarina (SC) CEP: 83385-000, Brazil e-mail: [email protected] J. P. Taborda Microbiology Department, Institute of Biomedical Science, Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1374, Butanta˜, Saõ Paulo (SP) CEP: 05508-270, Brazil e-mail: [email protected]

Introduction Sporotrichosis is a subcutaneous mycosis caused by the dimorphic fungus of the Sporothrix complex [23]. The disease affects not only humans but also a wide range of animal species including chimpanzees, dogs, cats, pigs, mice, hamsters, rats, donkeys, horses, mules, goats, cattle, camels, foxes, dolphins, snakes, and chickens [12, 13].

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Sporotrichosis is a rare disease in Europe, but it is common in Africa, Japan, Australia, and the Americas. It is the most commonly diagnosed subcutaneous mycosis in Latin America [12, 31]. In Brazil, the disease has been diagnosed in the southeast region, primarily in the state of Rio de Janeiro [31, 35], but also in Saõ Paulo [22, 27] and, less frequently, in Minas Gerais [25]. In the southern region of Brazil, sporotrichosis is commonly diagnosed in the state of Rio Grande do Sul [24, 40]. In the state of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), where sporotrichosis epidemics commonly affect cats, dogs, and humans [6], 13 cases of human sporotrichosis were diagnosed over the 12-year period from 1987 to 1996 at the Evandro Chagas Institute; of these, 2 patients (15.4 %) reported having been previously scratched by cats. Furthermore, in a subsequent 2-year interval (1998–2000), another 66 cases of human sporotrichosis were diagnosed at the same institute, of which 79 % reported previous contact with sporotrichotic cats [5]. Furthermore, clinicians and epidemiologists at the Evandro Chagas Institute reported 759 human, 1,503 feline, and 64 canine cases of sporotrichosis within the 7-year period from 1998 to 2004. Of the 759 human cases, 83 % reported recent contact with cats and 56 % reported having been injured by these animals [33]. Between 2011 and 2012, an epizootic/epidemic outbreak of feline sporotrichosis arose in Itaquera, a neighbourhood in the east side of Saõ Paulo city, affecting 98 cats and 11 humans that had come into contact with the animals [39]. Notably, this region is populated predominantly by low-income individuals with poor access to health care and a low educational level. Most recently, at the end of 2012, a new outbreak of feline sporotrichosis, although not yet officially confirmed, affected animals and a few humans in the municipality of Diadema, which is located 19 km to the southeast of Saõ Paulo city proper. The geographical distribution of the disease suggests that climate, atmospheric temperature, and relative humidity influence the growth of this fungus in its saprophytic stage [28]. The apparent expansion of sporotrichosis outbreaks involving anthropozoonotic transmission from felids to animals and humans in the southeast region of Brazil, specifically in Rio de Janeiro, from the late 1990s to the present decade has caused great concern among clinicians and epidemiologists. This is especially true in the state of Saõ Paulo, where there is a great effort to prevent what has

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Mycopathologia (2013) 176:129–137

occurred in Rio de Janeiro over the past 15 years. It is believed that determining the potential modes of transmission based on the source of infection, that is, felids, will help promote awareness in the general population, physicians, and veterinary professionals concerning the risks of sporotrichosis infection. The disease is generally acquired through the traumatic implantation of the fungus into the dermis via contact with contaminated soil, puncture by thorns or splinters, or through bites, scratches, or direct contact with the lesions of affected animals that are either sick with, carriers of, or recovering from the disease [11, 22]. Sporotrichosis has primarily been reported in domestic cats and in humans, and there are innumerable references and reports of feline involvement in disease transmission, especially through bites and scratches by affected animals. Veterinary professionals, veterinary students, handlers, and owners are the individuals most susceptible to this zoonosis [24, 35]. Domestic cats (Felis catus) that have access to the outdoors, thus called outdoor cats, especially males aged between 2 and 3 years that do not have a defined breed [27], fill an important role in the epidemiologic chain of transmission of this disease. They play this role due to their innate habits, such as burying their excrement, fighting with other animals, and climbing trees or sharpening their claws on them. They can become healthy or sick carriers of sporotrichosis and thereby act as sources of infection to humans and other animals through scratching and biting or by contact with skin or mucosal wounds [22, 36]. Diagnosis of the disease can be made by direct or histopathological examination of dermatological lesions. The culture and subsequent identification of fungi is another optional method for the diagnosis of sporotrichosis [32]. Regarding sample collection for fungal culture, there are references describing the collection of material using claw impressions or even claw cultures with samples collected from carriers (healthy or sick), involving clipping the claws and grinding the clippings in pools, with the objective of isolating the agent in specific culture media [35, 40]. A simpler and less costly method would be to disinfect the claws with ethanol and then obtain impressions of the claws on plates containing traditional culture media. In the specialised literature, there are few Brazilian reports of attempts to isolate the agent from cat claws [35, 40]. In addition, the occurrence of the disease in wild and/or exotic animals is poorly known. Thus,


because of the frequency of sporotrichosis cases in Southeast Brazil, as well as the known correlation between human infection and felids, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the rate of Sporothrix spp. present on the claws of domesticated (indoors or outdoors) and undomesticated felids, of sick animals, and especially of healthy or recovering carriers.

Materials and Methods The sampling consisted of 120 animals, including both indoor (99) and outdoor (21) animals, which were treated at the veterinary teaching hospital (Veterinary Hospital of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of the University of Saõ Paulo— HOVET/FMVZ-USP) on the west side of Saõ Paulo (30 animals), at the veterinary hospital of the central region (30 animals), at a private veterinary clinic on the north side (30 animals), or at a shelter on the east side (30 animals). All of these sampling locations were located within the municipality of Saõ Paulo (Saõ Paulo, Brazil). These samples were obtained at clinics from animals that were brought in for clinical cases or routine vaccination. Only animals treated at the veterinary teaching hospital presented dermatopathies of different aetiologies, and 1 of these animals presented possible signs of sporotrichosis when first seen. Additionally, 12 captive felids from the Saõ Paulo Zoological Park Foundation (Fundaçaõ Parque Zoolo´gico de Saõ Paulo—FPZ/SP) were included in the study, of which 11 were wild felines (Leopardus tigrinus) and 1 was an exotic felid (Panthera tigris altaica). Sampling was conducted over a period of 12 months (January through December), and there were no restrictions concerning breed, gender, or age of the animals. All 120 cats were subjected to anamnesis to gather and detail their health history, symptomatic manifestations, type of rearing, and potential contact with other individuals. The owners were informed about the objectives and methodology of the study and were asked for their consent to include their animal in the experiment. For the 12 animals from the FPZ/SP, data concerning origin, gender, age, place of captivity, and species in contact were collected. Of the 120 domestic animals, 77 (64.2 %) were male. One hundred and six (88.3 %) did not show a precise breed definition, and 14 (11.7 %) were cats of

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defined breeds. Among these 14, 7 (50 %) were Persian cats, 4 (28.6 %) were Siamese, 2 (14.3 %) were Russian Blue, and 1 (7.1 %) was Birman. The age of the domestic animals varied between 2 and 204 months with a mean of 53.8 months. Among the 12 wild and exotic felids, which were all male, the age varied from 48 to 192 months with a mean of approximately 125.8 months. Most (75 %) of the animals were classified as having been captured from ‘‘the wild’’ and donated to the FPZ/ SP, with only 3 (25 %) born in captivity. In four of the enclosures inhabited by the animals, the floor was made of concrete and featured bushes and dead tree trunks. Of these, only one enclosure contained earth, whereas the other 8 (66.6 %) had only concrete flooring. All of the wild and exotic animals were sedated with zolazepam hydrochloride and tiletamine for the examination (ZoletilÒ 50 mg; 5 mL vial— Virbac Sau´de Animal). After the medical histories were obtained, all the felids were subjected to physical and skin examinations, complemented by any necessary additional tests and, in all cases, by a mycological culture made from the claws from the paws of the thoracic limbs. Mycological Examination The samples used for the mycological cultures consisted of impressions from the claws of the thoracic limbs made in culture medium. Asepsis was carried out beforehand using cotton pads soaked in 70 % ethanol. Then, claw impressions were made in the culture medium by pressing the digital pads, arranged cranially to the metacarpal, to expose the claws. A different Petri dish containing culture medium was used for each of the thoracic limbs. The mycological cultures were conducted at the Mycology Laboratory of the Biomedical Sciences Institute of the University of Saõ Paulo (ICB/USP). In this procedure, Agar Mycosel MycobioticÒ (DIFCO, Detroit, MI, USA) was poured into Petri dishes with the addition of chloramphenicol (0.1 g/1,000 mL) and actidione (0.8 g/1,000 mL). The Petri dishes were incubated at 25 °C for 30 days. The first reading was recorded after 15 days of incubation, and the next reading was recorded after 30 days. The identification of the fungi was based, at first, on the macro- and microscopic characteristics of the colonies. Later, potential colonies were subcultured in brain–heart

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infusion agar (BHI) at 37 °C for conversion into the yeast stage of S. schenckii. This research complied with Ethical Principles in Animal Research adopted by ‘‘Ethic Committee in the use of animals’’ of the FMVZ-USP under the experimental protocol number 845/2006 and was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the HOVET of the FMVZ-USP.

Results The results of the mycological cultures from claw impressions of the 132 felids are itemised in Table 1. Specifically, only 1 (0.7 %) case of S. schenckii growth was evidenced from the claw impressions of a domestic cat, whereas there were 16 (12.1 %) cases of Microsporum canis and 7 (5.3 %) cases of Malassezia pachydermatis growth, as well as 53 (40 %) cases of contaminating anemophilous fungi. Correspondingly, only 1 of the animals presented lesions on the face (Fig. 1) and limbs, namely a non-castrated 4-year-old Siamese female; this animal was initially kept for 3 years in a house with a backyard and was in contact with stray cats, but was then moved into an apartment and lived solely with the owner for the 6 months prior to the study. After initial treatment at a private clinic, this animal was referred to the veterinary teaching hospital (HOVET/FMVZ-USP) due to worsening of its skin condition and was assigned a presumptive clinical diagnosis of cutaneous sporotrichosis. In the course of

Table 1 Frequency (number and percentage) of genera of fungi isolated from the claws of domestic and captive felines from Saõ Paulo city, Brazil Fungi genera

N

%

Acremonium sp.

1

0.7

Aspergillus sp.

13

9.8

Candida sp.

5

3.8

Malassezia pachydermatis

7

5.3

Microsporum canis

16

12.1

Penicillium sp.

28

21.2

Rhodotorula sp.

5

3.8

Sporothrix schenckii

1

0.7

Trichoderma sp.

1

0.7

N number of animals, % percentage of animals

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Fig. 1 Siamese cat, female, 4 years old, positive to sporotrichosis with a large ulcer, haemorragic crusts and alopecia in the head—Dermatology Service (FMVZ-USP)

Fig. 2 Female veterinarian positive to sporotrichosis with an ulcerated nodular lesion presenting purulent secretion on her right forearm—Dermatology Service (FMVZ-USP). GRAPHIC PROGRAM: ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS6

clinical follow-up, the female veterinarian who had made the initial treatment developed ulcerated lesions on her right fist (Fig. 2) and raised nodular lesions on her right forearm. These lesions were suggestive of erythema nodosum associated with sporotrichosis. Importantly, the veterinarian had been scratched by the animal weeks earlier during clinical treatment. The mycological cultures in Sabouraud agar supplemented with actidione and chloramphenicol made from claw impressions and material derived from


biopsied skin fragments of the infected cat revealed the presence of a yeast-forming fungus identified as S. schenckii. A cytological analysis, using the impression of an ulcerated lesion of the nasal plane of a female cat to a microscope slide stained with Diff QuickÒ, also revealed the presence of cigar-shaped yeasts phagocytised by macrophages. Finally, a histopathological examination of fragments of a skin lesion stained with H&E and PAS confirmed the diagnosis of fungal panniculitis. In parallel, a histopathological examination of material collected from the affected veterinarian’s forearm was performed at the Department of Dermatology of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Saõ Paulo (FM-USP) and confirmed the diagnosis of cutaneous sporotrichosis. Apart from this case of clinically manifested sporotrichosis, which resulted in the infection of the veterinarian who treated the animal, all remaining 131 felids presented no tegumental or ungual disease suggestive of a fungal infection. Of the 12 felids in captivity, 8 (66.5 %) were reported to have been in contact with up to 2 animals of the same species, and the other 4 (33.5 %) had been in contact with 3–4 animals. The cultures of claw clippings led to the identification of different mould and yeast genera or species, as listed in Table 1 (M. pachydermatis 1–9.1 %, Penicillium sp. 5–45.4 %, Aspergillus sp. 3–27.3 %, Rhodotorula sp. 1–9.1 % and Acremonium sp. 1–9.1 %). Notably, the dimorphic fungus S. schenckii was not detected in any of these samples. It must be noted that 30 of the studied cats (all adults and with no precise breed definition) were kept in a shelter and inhabited a collective enclosure featuring concrete flooring and tree trunks designed for claw sharpening. None of these animals presented evidence of tegumental or ungual lesions. In the 12 months prior to sampling, this population remained unaltered, that is, there was no introduction of new animals. The largest number of M. canis isolates (12–54.6 %) was ascribed to these animals.

Discussion The scope of the present investigation was to determine the percentage of the felid population carrying Sporothrix spp. on their claws through mycological culture. The results obtained showed a rather low occurrence when compared to similar Brazilian

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studies [36, 40]. It was possible to isolate the agent in only one (0.7 %) of the felids investigated. The low occurrence of infected claws among more than 100 animals from different types of rearing conditions, kept indoors, outdoors, or in a shelter, conflicts with other Brazilian studies from Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul [36, 40]. However, the sampling of those studies only involved indoor or outdoor animals. In Rio de Janeiro, the rate of fungus isolation in a similar study was 39.5 % of tested individuals [36], whereas in Rio Grande do Sul, the agent was isolated in 29.1 % of the felines investigated [40]. In Peru—a Latin country that is not adjacent to Brazil—the fungus was also isolated from the claws of only one (1.2 %) of the cats evaluated [20]. According to Larsson et al. [22] and Schubach et al. [36], the likelihood of the presence of this dimorphic fungus is directly related to the innate habits of cats, such as burying their excrement, climbing trees, sharpening their claws on tree trunks, and hunting animals, as well as their unique activities related to playing and fighting for territorial defence. Apart from these activities, other variables affecting infection rate include the type of housing, whether they are indoor or outdoor animals, the nearby flora, and the climate conditions in the area where the cats are kept. Souza et al. [40] isolated S. schenckii from a pomegranate (Punica granatum) in an environment where animals affected with sporotrichosis lived; these animals sharpened their claws on or climbed the infected tree. According to Nogueira et al. [24], the intense contamination of cat claws occurs because feline sporotrichosis lesions extend or disseminate from the injured skin surrounding the digits. The fungi present on the claws are an important source of dissemination of the disease among cats as they play, fight, or scratch themselves. Other authors relate human sporotrichosis to acquisition from cats only when coming into contact with sick animals’ wounds [14, 33]. One animal showed clinical manifestations of sporotrichosis that were similar to the cases described by other authors [14, 16, 22, 34]. With regard to the age range predisposed to sporotrichosis based on cases compiled from the literature, Larsson [21] diagnosed the disease in cats that were 4–6 years old. Souza et al. [40] found the disease in 77.8 % of cats up to 5 years old. The female cat with S. schenckii-infected claws was approximately 4 years old, thereby corroborating the data reported in the literature.

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A female veterinarian who was scratched by the animal infected with sporotrichosis later developed raised nodular lesions in the extremity of her forearm and had a diagnosis of sporotrichosis confirmed at the Department of Dermatology of the FM-USP. Previous reports have also noted that veterinarians are professionals susceptible to sporotrichosis [21, 22, 35]. In the present study, the mycological culture results were used as the basis for the proof of infection to diagnose sporotrichosis. Although this method has been widely described in the Brazilian and international literature for the diagnosis of sporotrichosis, few reports detail the technique for making feline claw impressions in dishes containing an appropriate medium. This methodology was adapted from a technique previously applied in a study from Rio Grande do Sul [40] and is used in the routine clinical care of cats seen at HOVET/FMVZ-USP. The main advantage of this technique, besides its high sensitivity, easy handling, and rapid sampling, is that there is no need for long-lasting or risky (due to possible haemorrhages) claw clipping from the paws of the thoracic limbs; in addition, the clippings are ground using sterilised equipment prior to seeding. The use of such a methodology allows for easy diagnosis, providing possible differential diagnoses, especially in the cases of humans who have had contact with felids and exhibit lesions that suggest rickettsiosis (‘‘cat scratch disease’’), bacteriosis (mycobacteriosis), or even neoplasia. The isolation of the fungus from claw impressions corroborates evidence reported by other groups that zoonotic transmission might occur through scratching, as seen in the present study [21, 22, 35]. There was a low magnitude of occurrence (0.7 %) for the presence of the fungus S. schenckii on the claws of the studied felids. This finding reduces the potential of the evaluated cats to serve as sources of infection in four regions (central, north, east, and west) of Saõ Paulo city. This conclusion is in contrast to the cases documented in Rio de Janeiro, where there have been growing numbers of reported cases of feline sporotrichosis since 1998, which have been accompanied by human cases. Notably, the samples in this study were obtained from healthy felids in captivity (n = 12) and cats taken in for a check-up or immunisation (n = 90) or for the treatment of diseases of organs or systems other than the skin (n = 30). Only the 30 animals treated at the veterinary teaching hospital (HOVET/FMVZ-USP) presented tegumental, but not

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ungual, disease, with the exception of the one female cat demonstrating severe and evolved sporotrichotic lesions. An attempt was made to properly sample cases within the central, north, east, and west regions of Saõ Paulo city. Notably, the east region, which is located approximately 21 km from the city centre, has experienced an epidemic outbreak for the past 2 years that has affected stray, indoor, and outdoor cats, as well as humans who have come into contact with these animals. The fortunately low prevalence of sporotrichosis cases found in the present study is likely because more than 80 % of the studied cats were indoor animals, 40 % of which had no contact with other cats. The few studies conducted in Brazil that have found a high prevalence of sporotrichosis were performed on outdoor animals from very poor urban areas populated by individuals with a predominantly low socioeconomic and cultural level and who knowingly come into contact with stray cats that had access to vacant vegetation-rich lots [36, 40]. There is no reasonable scientific explanation for the occurrence of the feline and human sporotrichosis epidemic over the past 15 years in Southeast Brazil. However, it is believed that a combination of diverse conditions may play an essential role, such as climate, economic, and cultural status; virulence of fungal strains; the presence of rodents hunted by cats; the rapid burial of carcasses in the soil of residential properties where these animals live; and poor access to or use of veterinary care. According to Barros et al. [6], this disease affects mainly women between 40 and 59 years of age who work as housekeepers and who feed and take care of infected cats. Furthermore, affected human and animal patients were shown to live in masonry houses (91 %) with a water supply (92 %) and sanitary sewage system; these properties also contained several plants (83.5 %) and areas with dirt (60 %) and rubble (44 %), which constitutes a favourable environment for the perpetuation of Sporothrix. It is important to note the presence of rats in 55 % of the households, half of which kept cats as the main means to control these rodents. The cited authors also stated that the median family income in the outbreak areas was US$ 1,120/month (3.3 minimum wages), with an average of 4 persons in the family nucleus and an educational level of less than 4 years in 45 % of the patients and 37 % of the household contacts.


In a recent outbreak affecting a poor neighbourhood of Saõ Paulo city, the living conditions were similar, and there were many rats detected on the properties, which were likely hunted by potentially infected cats [39]. A literature search yielded no studies that aimed to isolate Sporothrix spp. from wild or exotic felid claws, thus preventing comparisons with the results from the present study. Although not the main scope of the present study, it is important to discuss the other genera or fungal species listed in Table 1 that were isolated from the animals in this study (Acremonium sp., Aspergillus sp., Candida sp., M. pachydermatis, M. canis, Penicillium sp., Rhodotorula sp., Trichoderma sp.). Many of these fungal species are thought to be contaminants, as they can easily be isolated from the air on Sabouraud agar plates [19]. There are reports in human medicine of the isolation of Acremonium sp., Aspergillus sp., Candida sp., Penicillium sp., Rhodotorula sp. and as causal agents of onychomycosis in humans [30]. However, such findings are not common in veterinary medicine. The omnipresent Malassezia pachydermatis was isolated from seven (5.3 %) and has been mentioned in several recent studies on breeds not represented here, such as Sphynx, Devon, and Cornish Rex, as well as animals of no precise breed definition, healthy or afflicted with seborrhoea. Among the species of the genus Malassezia spp., M. pachydermatis has been the most frequently (50–93 %) isolated [1, 2, 8, 10, 42]. The magnitude of the occurrence of M. pachydermatis in the mycological cultures from the investigated felids, mainly those with no defined breed (88.3 %), was lower than that observed in European, that is, Italian, English, and Swedish, studies, likely owing to the specific hereditary characteristics of European cats (Sphynx, Devon and Cornish Rex) [8]. The colonisation of cat skin, ears, and claws by Malassezia spp. can lead to the development of cutaneous and ungual conditions associated with endocrine metabolic, immunosuppressive (feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leucemia virus), neoplastic, and allergic diseases [2, 15, 17, 26, 38]. The feline cutaneous and ungual diseases related to yeast infections include feline chin acne, idiopathic facial dermatitis of the Persian cat, seborrhoeic dermatitis, paraneoplastic syndromes, onychomycosis, paronychia, and pheothricosis [9, 10, 18]. The species of the genus Malassezia are described as being part of the normal fungal microbiome on the

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skin and in the ears of animals. This lipophilic but not lipid-dependent yeast is usually described in the literature in cases of paronychia in dogs, which present with dry or slightly humid brown exudates from nail beds, frequently adhered to the claws [37]. Carlotti [9] described the presence of Malassezia pachydermatis in dogs associated with pododermatitis, especially in allergic animals. In the present study, the presence of the dermatophyte Microsporum canis was also detected on the claws of 16 (12.1 %) animals. This fungus is keratolytic, meaning that it survives in keratinised or semikeratinised portions of the tegument (fur and other skin appendages). In felid species, the dermatophyte that stands out in all situations for its frequency is M. canis. It is known that the genus Microsporum does not have a preference for the claws, in contrast to the genera Epidermophyton and Trichophyton. However, there are few studies in the Brazilian literature describing occurrences of M. canis in feline claws that were not accompanied by paronychia. The occurrence of paronychia caused by M. canis is much more common in dogs than in cats [37]. The rate of 12.1 %, which is relatively high compared to the rates for the other isolated fungi, should be highlighted, as M. canis is a known pathogenic mould, although it has low infectivity, pathogenicity, and virulence, at least in systemically healthy animals. Dermatophyte arthrospores can survive for long periods in favourable environmental conditions in terms of humidity and temperature [4, 29] and can be carried by air currents [29]. They can even be found along the external auditory meatus [3] and at the extremities of the limbs, making these felids reservoirs or healthy carriers for dermatophytes. Microsporidiosis on the claws, aside from perpetuating the dermatophyte, can lead to infrequent but worrying cases of mycetoma, also known as dermatophytic pseudomycetoma or Majocchi granuloma, following self-inflicted injury, especially in Persian and Himalayan cats [41]. At times, foot microsporidiosis evolves as a disease and can mimic feline pemphigus, particularly when manifested with exudative and crusty paronychia, which is common to the feline pemphigus foliaceus [29]. The fact that other species of dermatophytes, such as the geophilic M. gypseum, were not isolated from the claws of the 132 felids evaluated most likely indicates their low frequency under Brazilian rearing conditions.

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Bentubo et al. [7], in a study conducted at the FPZ/SP, found only two (1.6 %) strains of M. gypseum in the fur of 130 healthy wild felids in captivity. Finally, when the occurrence of fungi and moulds on the claws of captive felids was analysed, the growth of usually non-pathogenic fungi was found in 83.3 % of the sampled felids. Dermatophytes or dimorphic moulds, such as Sporothrix spp., were not found, reflecting the excellence of the handling of animals at the FPZ/SP and the absence of the dimorphic agent in the trunks and bushes in the animals’ living areas.

Conclusion Given the sampling and methodology employed, it was possible to conclude that domestic felines kept either indoors or outdoors, raised in four geographical regions (central, north, east, and west) of Saõ Paulo city, and treated by the specialised services of a veterinary school hospital, a veterinary hospital, or a private veterinary clinic or living in a shelter showed a low occurrence rate of sporotrichotic disease. This finding suggests that these animals are not relevant sources of infection for sporotrichosis. In addition, from the mycological culture of all claw impressions of domestic, wild, or exotic felid, the presence pathogenic fungi was, in decreasing order of occurrence: M. canis (12.1 %), M. pachydermatis (5.3 %), and S. schenckii (0.7 %).

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