Isolation and Identification of Microsporum canis in Companion Animals from Selected Local Government Areas in Abia State

Abstract

The aim of the study is to isolate and identify Microsporum canis from companion animals (dogs and cats) in three local government areas of Abia State. A total of one hundred and fifty skin scrapings from infected dogs (100) and cats (50) were screened. Saboruad destroxe agar was used for the culture and Needle mount technique was adopted. Lactophenol Cotton Blue (LCB) was used for staining. Demographic indices like; age, sex, and breed of the animals were considered. This organism at macroscopy appears as white, light yellow, cottony to powdery colonies. At microscopic view, the spores of M. canis appear as large and spindle shaped with thick wall. The dogs has a predominant isolation rate of 36.0%.The female dogs and cats presented the highest frequency of occurrence at 58.2% and 63.6% respectively. Dogs of 9months old and above had more M. canis isolation rate at 70.0%, while cats between 5 and 8months of age had the highest isolation rate at 33.3%. Dogs and cats at 1 to 4 months of age had the least M. canis isolation rate at 7.5% and 14.5% respectively. The indigenous breeds of dogs had the highest isolation rate of M. canis at 53.8% while the Caucasian breed was the least at 7.7%. Statistical analysis shows that (p=.05) there is significance in isolation rate of M. canis in dogs and cats.