Camels and Camelids

A STUDY OF MYCOFLORA OF THE EXTERNAL EAR CANALS IN DROMEDARY CAMELS IN IRAN

Journal Edition: December 2008
Article DOI:
Published On: 11-10-2018 07:08

A.R. Khosravi1, H. Shokri1, T. Ziglari1 and A. Niasari-Naslaji2
1Mycology Research Centre, 2Department of Clinical Sciences,
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT

In the present study prevalence of the resident fungal flora in the healthy dromedary camels’ ears during 2007-2008 was investigated. Total 95 samples were collected using premoistened swabs from the right and/or left external ear canal of 95 dromedary camels and cultured on Sabouraud glucose agar, Blood agar and modified Dixon’s agar media. A total of 27 species of fungus were isolated from 90 of the camels sampled (94.7%). Both filamentous fungi and yeasts were isolated, with a predominance of Aspergillus, Malassezia and Candida species, which were found in 23.9, 21.8 and 18.6% of cultures, respectively. Among the fungal isolates, A. niger (29.5%) and C. albicans (19.8%) were the most prevalent fungal agents, representing significant values in comparison with the other fungal isolates (P<0.05). In addition, 4 certain pathogens identified as Nocardia asteroides, which was not commonly related to fungal flora of animals’ ears, were found. Adult animals (³ 3 years old) were being more frequently colonised (P<0.05).
Key words: Aspergillus, Candida, dromedary camel, external ear canal, Malassezia, mycoflora, Nocardia asteroides