Cutaneous fungal flora in twenty horses free of skin or ocular disease.

The research focuses on identifying the different types of fungal flora found on the hair and skin of 20 horses that do not have any skin or ocular diseases.

Objective and Methodology

• The primary objective of the study was to investigate and identify the different types of fungal flora existing on the hair and skin of healthy horses.
• Data was collected from twenty horses who exhibited no signs of any skin or ocular diseases.
• The research was conducted by assessing two sites on each horse, specifically the area of hair and the skin underlying it.

Fungi Isolation and Identification

• All twenty horses displayed the presence of fungi on both their hair and skin.
• A total of twenty-two unique genera of fungi, typically considered saprophytes, were identified during the study.
• Two additional fungi resembling the perfect state of skin pathogenic genera, Microsporum and Trichophyton, were also identified.

Commonly Found Fungi

• Cladosporium spp, Penicillium spp, and Rhizopus spp were the three most common saprophytes isolated during the study.

Conclusions

• The study concluded that similar types of fungi were isolated from the hair and the underlying skin of the horses.
• There seemed to be no significant differences in the types of fungal isolates that were found on either the saddle or the rump regions of the subjects.