부산대학교 도서관

Simple Summary: Cattle ringworm is a mycotic infection of the bovine skin caused by dermatophytes that are also transmissible to humans. To limit the spread of bovine ringworm, calves at auction markets in Styria, Austria, are visually inspected and excluded from auction if they display skin lesions that are typical of ringworm. To investigate whether these clinical assessments correspond to laboratory diagnoses, samples from skin lesions were examined through microscopy, culture, and nested PCR approaches; the relatedness of the isolated dermatophytes was determined using multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). Overall, the clinical assessments were largely supported through the results of the nested PCR laboratory diagnosis, possessing an analytical sensitivity superior to that of the culture approach. Thus, this represents a fast and sensitive diagnostic test for the detection and identification of dermatophytes. Most of the isolated dermatophytes were assigned to a unique Trichophyton (T.) verrucosum MLST genotype, indicating that ringworm in calves at auction was predominantly caused by a single T. verrucosum strain. To limit the spread of bovine ringworm, control measures such as movement restrictions are highly recommended. In this context, calves at auction markets in Styria, Austria, displaying skin lesions characteristic for bovine ringworm, are excluded from the auctions. To investigate whether these clinical assessments correspond to laboratory diagnosis, a total of 166 samples taken from skin lesions assigned to the three clinical categories 'ringworm very likely (v), likely (l) or unlikely (u)' were mycologically examined using microscopy, culture, and nested PCR followed by amplicon sequencing. Further, the relationships of isolated dermatophytes were determined through multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). Overall, a high agreement between clinical assessment and laboratory results were observed with microscopy and nested PCR, providing more consistent results and molecular detection possessing an analytical sensitivity superior to that of cultural isolation (culture 21.7% vs. nested PCR 48.2%). Phylogenetic analyses revealed that most of the isolated dermatophytes belong to a unique Trichophyton verrucosum MLST genotype. In conclusion, clinical assessments were largely confirmed through laboratory diagnosis with nested PCR and sequencing, providing rapid, sensitive, and species-specific detection of dermatophytes in calves at auction markets displaying skin lesions typical for ringworm; this seems to be predominantly caused by a single Trichophyton verrucosum strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]