2009 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 7-14
Malassezia yeasts are normal skin flora of human and animals. However, hospitals have acquired infections caused by Malassezia spp. have been reported recently. The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence and DNA sequence diversity of Malassezia spp. in the external ear canal of dogs in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.
As a result Malassezia spp. were isolated from 33 out of 52 (63.5%) dogs. M. pachydermaitis was identified in 31 (59.6%) specimens by rDNA sequence analysis. These 31 isolates were classified into 5 clusters by molecular phylogenetic analysis using ITS1 region. Three isolates from 3 out of 52 specimens were found to display a high rDNA region sequence similarity to that of M. japonica type strain.
