ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies animal diseases that are host specific and reviews the effects of various human diseases on animals. It also identifies history, etiologic, human Infection, diagnosis, public health aspects and therapeutic aspects of each disease important to epidemiology and prevention. The superficial mycoses of animals traditionally include nonspecific infections of the skin and mucous membranes caused by a variety of opportunistic fungi and the specific dermatophytoses caused by keratinophilic fungi that are parasitic on skin, hair, and nails. The pathogenesis of dermatophytosis in animals is similar regardless of the agent involved. Diagnosis of animal dermatophyte infections is best accomplished with hairs and scales plucked from the inner periphery of active lesions. There are two major varieties of T. mentagrophytes. Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes is a zoophilic dermatophyte with a very broad host range. In addition to cattle and possibly sheep, T. verrucosum is an occasional pathogen in other ruminants, including buffalo and deer, equine animals, dogs, and cats.
