Isolation and identification of normal conjunctival fungal flora in the Persian Arab horse

Subject Areas : Journal of Comparative Pathobiology

عبداله  عراقی سوره ¹ (ندارد)
مجید  ابراهیمی حامد ² (ندارد)
دیاکو  محمدپور ³ (ندارد)
محمدحسین  صادقی زالی ⁴ (ندارد)

Received: 2012-11-05 Accepted : 2012-12-30 Published : 2013-02-19

Keywords: Fungal Flora, Conjunctiva, Persian Arab Horse,

Abstract :

This study was conducted to identify the fungi isolated from conjunctival sac of clinicallynormal Persian Arab horse living in Tabriz, Northwestern Iran and to determine the effect of sexand age variations on the frequency of isolates. Forty-three horses (21 females and 22 males),aged 1-15 years, without clinical evidence of external ocular inflammation were selected anddivided into three age groups. Samples were taken from both conjunctival sacs of horses andseeded on the sabouraud dextrose agar and malt extract agar. Plates were incubated at 25 °C for10 days. Data were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests using SAS 9.1. Thirtyeighthorses out of 43(88.37 %) were positive for fungi, 22/43 (51.16 %) had positive culturefrom both eyes. The isolated fungal species were Candida spp (23.15 %), Penicillium spp (16.84%), Aspergillus sp (15.78 %), Mucor spp (13.48 %), Alternaria spp (8.42 %), Pseudallescheriaspp (6.31%), Chladosporium spp (5.26%), Rhodotorula spp (4.21 %), Curvularia spp (3.15 %),Fusarium spp (2.10 %) and Trichoderma sp (1.05 %). There was significant effect of horse sexand age on frequency of fungal isolation. The fungal species isolated are comparable withstudies performed in other countries, although the frequency of Candida isolation was so higherwhich may reflect a geographic difference