A Study on the Prevalence of Malassezia spp. in Domestic Animals

This study was to determine the prevalence of Malassezia in domesti animals (cattle، sheep and goat) in Kermanshah city. This descriptive–analytic study was performed on 190 domesti animals including: 86 cattle (45%)، 56 sheep (30%) and 48 goats (25%) during 12-month period from August 2011 until July 2012. Specimens were collected by using scraping method from different parts of the body (back، ear، armpit، groin and around anus). Sabouraud Glucose Agar (SGA supplement with olive oil) was used for the sample of culture and in addition to morphological study; other tests such as Tween absorbance، catalase and esculin hydrolysis were performed to identify different species of Malassezia. Sixty-three (33%) of animals were infected with Malassezia، comprising of cattle with 61. 9% (39 cases)، sheep with 20. 63% (13 cases) and goats with 17. 46% (11 cases) respectively. The frequencies of the isolated Malassezia species included M. furfur (35%)، M. Globosa (24%)، M. slooffiae (19. 5%)، M. restrikta (11. 11)، M. pachidermatis (8%)، and M. sympodialis (3. 17%). There was such an increase in the frequency of the lipophilic species that M. furfur was، by far، the most predominant yeast isolate.