Isolation of Malassezia pachydermatis and M. sympodialis from the external ear canal of cats with and without otitis externa

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the presence of Malassezia spp. in the external ear canal of cats with and without otitis. Forty-five animals were studied, 20 with and 25 without otitis externa (OE). Cerumen or secretion from external ear canal samples was cultured on modified Mycosel agar and sterile olive oil was added to the surface of the medium before specimen seeding. The isolates were analysed for macro-and micromorphology and identified by catalase tests and on the basis of growth on Tween 20, 40, 60 and 80. Malassezia spp. were isolated from 15 out of 20 (75%) animals with otitis and from 7 out of 25 (28%) cats without OE; the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05). Malassezia pachydermatis and M. sympodialis were isolated from 60% (12/20) and 40% (8/20) of cats with otitis, respectively, with no significant difference in the frequency of isolation between the two species. In the microflora of the healthy ear canal M. pachydermatis was significantly more common (6/25, 24%) than M. sympodialis (1/25, 4%). The present investigation confirms that M. sympodialis can also act as an aetiological agent of feline OE, and if commercial veterinary laboratories do not use media with added lipids for the isolation of Malassezia spp., this might lead to false-negative results.

Characterization of the cutaneous mycobiota in healthy and allergic cats using next generation sequencing

“…Several studies have cultured Malassezia spp. from the skin of healthy cats and cats with otitis . In one of these studies, Malassezia was cultured from approximately 40% of healthy cats .…”

“…from the skin of healthy cats 9,33 and cats with otitis. 8,10,11,14 In one of these studies, Malassezia was cultured from approximately 40% of healthy cats. 8 In the present study, Malassezia DNA was sequenced from around 30% of healthy cat samples, but at a low abundance relative to all fungi sequenced.…”

“…Hygiene practices and environmental exposures are thought to contribute to the differences in diversity and taxa between host species, although studies are still required to better investigate their influence on the microbiome. The microbial communities present on feline skin have only been investigated using culture dependent methods . The results of these studies are variable and fungal genera commonly isolated include Penicillium , Cladosporium , Aspergillus , Alternaria and Malassezia .…”

“…The microbial communities present on feline skin have only been investigated using culture dependent methods. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] The results of these studies are variable and fungal genera commonly isolated include Penicillium, Cladosporium, Aspergillus, Alternaria and Malassezia.…”

Malassezia pachydermatis presence in canine external otitis and dermatopathies

“…pachydermatis is both normal occurrence yeast and an opportunistic pathogen of the external ear canal of dogs and cats which can also be found on the skin, in the rectum, anal sacs and vagina (Bond et al, 1996;Dizotti and Coutinho, 2007). This yeast is one of the most frequent microorganisms associated to external otitis in dogs (Gentilini et al, 1991;Crespo et al, 2002;Nascente et al, 2004); recent studies have also referred to M. pachydermatis as being the cause of canine dermatitis (Nardoni et al, 2007;Leite et al, 2003).…”