In-vitro Antifungal Susceptibility of Malassezia Dermatitis in Dogs

Malassezia dermatitis is a highly pruritic type of dermatitis which mainly produces itching, erythema as its primary skin lesion and secondary skin lesions includes scaling, seborrhoea, maldour, lichenification and hyperpigmentation. The present study was conducted to compare the antifungal efficacy of Ketoconazole, Itraconazole, and Terbinafine against Malassezia spp. and to evaluate the antifungal sensitivity of Malassezia species isolated from dermatitis cases in dogs in and around Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. A total of 100 skin swabs were collected from dogs with dermatological symptoms suggestive of Malassezia spp., out of which 87 swabs were successfully isolated and showed good growth on Sabouraud’s Dextrose Agar (SDA) during primary isolation from the skin swabs. For this, commercially available antifungal discs of Ketoconazole and Itraconazole were used whereas for Terbinafine antifungal disc was made due to lack of its availability. Based on in-vitro antifungal susceptibility studies, it can be concluded that Ketoconazole, Itraconazole, Fluconazole and Terbinafine were found to be effective against Malassezia dermatitis and can be advocated as the drug of choice for the treatment of Malassezia dermatitis in dogs.