Isolation and investigation of external reproduction tract mycoflora in healthy male cats.

BACKGROUND: Various infectious agents can infect the male reproductive system. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to provide current data on fungal and yeast flora of the external organs of reproductive system of male short hair cats including penis and prepuce. METHODS: In total 28 samples were taken from external genital system of male stray cats using sterilised cotton swabs. Samples were taken based on the absence of any reproductive complications using physical examinations. The samples were transferred to sterilised Stuart transport media and were then incubated in the Sabouraud dextrose agar with chloramphenicol at 32°C for 48 h. The identification of fungi and yeasts was confirmed by germ tube formation test, CHROM agar, urease testing and Corn meal agar medium with Tween 80. RESULTS: Fungal agents were isolated from 7 (25%) out of 28 male stray cats. Fungal isolates were obtained from the penis and prepuce of 4 (36%) and 7 (100%) male cats, respectively. The most commonly recovered species samples were Candida krusei (3.75%) and Penicillum spp. (6.86%) from the penis and prepuce of the cats, respectively. The external organs of male reproduction of cats were infected with 2-4 different fungal agents. Only 5 (45%) cats were infected with one fungus; however, in 6 (55%) cats, mixed fungal infections were isolated. Cats 3-4 years old had the highest fungal contamination in the prepuce region (4/7), while the penis at this age had the least contamination (1/4). CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that the external reproduction organs of male cats could be infected by different fungal agents.

Leptospira wolffii, a potential new pathogenic Leptospira species detected in human, sheep and dog.

Leptospirosis is the most common zoonotic disease, which is transmitted to humans through contaminated water or direct exposure to the urine of infected animals. In this study, the presence and prevalence of Leptospira species in the infected samples of human (n=369) and sheep (n=75) sera and also dogs' urine (n=150), collected from four provinces of Iran, were investigated by using nested-PCR/RFLP assay followed by sequencing analysis. Nested-PCR assay detected that 98/369 (26.5%) human, 13/75 (17.33%) of sheep's sera and 33/150 (22%) dogs' urine samples were positive for Leptospira DNA. RFLP assay detected that all positive cases had either pathogenic or intermediate Leptospira species. By sequence analysis, Leptospira interrogans was the most prevalent species among the examined samples of human (53/82, 64.6%) and sheep (11/13, 84.6%). However, in dog samples, Leptospira wolffii (27/29, 93.1%) was detected for the first time and was the dominant species. The presence of L. wolffii with 100% identity in clinical human samples and animals suspected with Leptospira may provide evidence for circulation of L. wolffii and its role in transmission cycle within human and animal hosts. In addition, this species can be potentially pathogenic to human and probably animal hosts. A large epidemiology survey would be needed to define the presence and the prevalence of this species in global endemic regions.