OPPORTUNISTIC FUNGI ISOLATED FROM PET SHOP

Anemophilous fungi are dispersed by air and their variability in each region, influenced by climate. These fungi belong to genera such as Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., Fusarium spp., and Rhodotorula spp.. Infections caused by these fungi in immunocompromised patients are associated with pain, inflammation and edema. In addition, soft tissues show necrotic features. Finally, these fungi present high resistance index and recurrence to treatments. It is estimated that fungi found in pet shops increase the risk to animals, tutors and manipulators. Thus, the aim of this study was to detect fungi present in pet shop and to evaluate the capacity of virulence of these fungi such as the ability to infect hair and nail of human and dog hair. Therefore, fungi were collected in differents objects and surfaces of pet shop with sterile swab moistened in 0.85% sterile saline solution needed in Sabouraud Dextrose Agar plates and incubated at 25 ° C for 3 days. After the growth and isolation of fungi, the invasion abilities of fungi in human hair and nail and dog fur were evaluated. The hair and nail fragments of healthy female volunteers and a healthy dog hair were sterilized. These fragments were placed on a sterile glass slide and 50 μL of conidial suspension of each isolate (5 × 104 conidia / mL of 0.85% saline solution) were pipetted onto them. The glass slide was mounted in Petri dish and incubated for 3 days at 25 °C. A negative control was also performed. Invasion and damage to the substrates were observed by light microscopy, for which fragments clarified with 40% KOH and stained with Evans blue. The results show that 35 samples were isolated, with different types of fungi, yeast and filamentous morphologies. Among these, Fusarium genus deserves prominence, being present in 14.2% of the samples. In addition, this fungus was able to invade the keratinized substrates of human hair and nail and dog hair and produce propagation structures, which were visualized under the light microscope. It was also possible to observe, in all cases, the degradation of the keratinized structures in comparison to the negative controls. We verified that proximity in the human-animal interaction is a risk in the transmission of zoonoses, therefore it emphasizes the importance of the adequate hygiene habits of the bath and tosa establishments, as well as of the owners and pets.