ABSTRACT
During a six-year period from 2000 to 2006, 257 animal samples (fur and skin desquamation) were submitted to mycological examination in the Laboratory of Microbiology at the Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal. Dermathophytes were cultured from 38 of 257 (14.8 percent) specimens. Chi-squared test was used to compare differences between independent groups. The most frequent isolated dermathophyte was Microsporum canis (47.4 percent). Other isolated dermathophytes were: Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes (31.5 percent), Microsporum gypseum (15.8 percent), and Microsporum nanum (5.3 percent). The rates of dermathophytes isolation were 8.4 percent in dogs; 21.3 percent in cats; 66.7 percent in rabbits; and in 11.1 percent in horses.