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Fungal flora of normal eyes of healthy horses from the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Author(s) -
Rosa Maurílio,
Cardozo Liane Maria,
Da Silva Pereira Jorge,
Brooks Dennis E.,
Martins Ana Lucia B.,
Florido Penha Sueli Silva,
Stussi Jussara Schwind Pedroso
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
veterinary ophthalmology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.594
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1463-5224
pISSN - 1463-5216
DOI - 10.1046/j.1463-5224.2003.00267.x
Subject(s) - geotrichum , cladosporium , penicillium , biology , rhizopus , fusarium , mucor , microbiology and biotechnology , flora (microbiology) , aspergillus , trichoderma , horse , veterinary medicine , botany , food science , bacteria , fermentation , medicine , paleontology , genetics
The conjunctival fungal flora of 32 adult horses with normal eyes ( n = 64) from the State of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil was identified in the fall of 2000 using horses of different breeds, both genders and aged 5–19 years old. The culture samples were taken from the conjunctival sac of both eyes with a sterile cotton swab wetted with saline solution, seeded in Sabouraud's dextrose agar with chloramphenicol, and incubated for 5 days at an average temperature of 25 °C. The number of fungal colonies per eye varied between 0 and 250 colony forming units (CFUs). There were often differences in colony types between eyes of the same animal. Filamentous fungi of genera were isolated and identified in the following proportion of the total genera of fungal colonies isolated: Aspergillus (32.2%), Penicillium (25.8%), Scopulariopsis (15.9%), Trichoderma (11.2%), Cladosporium (5.6%), Mucor (2.1%), Syncephalastrum (2.1%), Eurotium (1.7%), Geotrichum (0.9%), Rhizopus (0.9%), Gliomastix (0.4%), Fusarium (0.4%), Staphylotrichum (0.4%) and Verticillium (0.4%). Yeast genera represented 9% of the total isolates. Over half the horses had at least one normal eye with either Aspergillus, Penicillium, Trichoderma or Scopulariopsis isolated, which is a departure from other studies of the normal horse eye.