Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recently, as rabbits have become a popular pet in Korea, there has been an increase in reports of dermatophytosis in humans as a result of frequent contact with rabbits.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose is to investigate the clinical and mycological features of dermatophytosis in humans transmitted from rabbits.

METHODS: Seventeen cases of dermatophytosis, developed after contact with rabbits, were clinically evaluated from November, 1999 to May, 2000. Mycologic studies were carried out from the lesions of rabbits and humans.

RESULTS: Dermatophytes were cultured from 15 of 17 (88.2%) specimens from the lesions of humans. Trichophyton (T.) mentagrophytes, granulosum-asteoroid form, was isolated in 12 specimens (70.6%) and Microsporum (M.) canis was isolated in 3 specimens (17.6%). Human infection showed a high incidence in young children under age 10 (52.9%), with female predominance (2 times), and high familial incidence, and mainly being tinea faciale and tinea corporis. Tinea capitis also was observed in four cases, and M. canis was isolated from two of them.

CONCLUSION: Rabbits can be an infectious source of human ring-worm due to T. mentagrophytes and M. canis. These zoophilic dermatophytes can be frequently transmitted to humans and induce inflammatory lesions. Therefore, epidemiologic studies of the prevalence of dermatophytes in healthy or infected rabbits, and sanitary measure are necessary.

Keywords

Dermatophytes Human infection Rabbits

KJMM 2000 December;5(4):160-166(7). Epub 2016 February 22
Copyright © 2000 by Korean Journal of Medical Mycology

Language

Korean/English

Author

Sook Hee Lim; Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
Dong Houh; Department of Dermatology, Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, College of Medicine, Hanlym University, Seoul, Korea
Hyun Jeong Park; Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
Seung Cheol Baek; Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
Dae Gyoo Byun; Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding

Dae Gyoo Byu, Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea. Tel: (032) 340-2115, Fax: (032) 340-2118, e-mail: hofaderm@unitel.co.kr

Publication history

Acknowledgements

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Sook Hee Lim

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

Dong Houh

Department of Dermatology, Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, College of Medicine, Hanlym University, Seoul, Korea

Hyun Jeong Park

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

Seung Cheol Baek

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

Dae Gyoo Byun

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea

Since epub date 2016 February 22