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Malassezia spp. in Acoustic Meatus of Bats (Molossus molossus) of the Amazon Region, Brazil

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Abstract

The yeasts of the Malassezia genus are opportunistic microorganisms and can cause human and animal infections. They are commonly isolated from the skin and auricular canal of mammalians, mainly dogs and cats. The present study was aimed to isolate Malassezia spp. from the acoustic meatus of bats (Molossus molossus) in the Montenegro region, “Rondônia”, Brazil. From a total of 30 bats studied Malassezia spp. were isolated in 24 (80%) animals, the breakdown by species being as follows (one Malassezia sp. per bat, N = 24): 15 (62.5%) M. pachydermatis, 5 (20.8%) M. furfur, 3 (12.5%) M. globosa and 1 (4.2%) M. sympodialis. This study establishes a new host and anatomic place for Malassezia spp., as it presents the first report ever of the isolation of this genus of yeasts in the acoustic meatus of bats.

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Acknowledgments

This study is part of a larger project named “Basic Research and Applied Research of Interest to “Rondônia”, Brazil” (Brazilian Government) and it was supported by Fapesp–Pronex-03/10391-5. We thank Dr John Norman for the revision of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ciências Médicas e Farmacêuticas, Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná, Rua Universitária, 2069, Cascavel, PR, 85814-110, Brazil

    Rinaldo Ferreira Gandra & Rita de Cássia Garcia Simão

  2. Departamento de Microbiologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Walderez Gambale, Luciana da Silva Ruiz, Edson Luis Durigon, Mauro Cintra Giudice, Luis Francisco Sanfilippo, Jansen de Araújo & Claudete Rodrigues Paula

  3. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas V, Universidade de São Paulo, Montenegro, RO, Brazil

    Luiz Marcelo Aranha de Camargo

Authors
  1. Rinaldo Ferreira Gandra
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  2. Walderez Gambale
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  3. Rita de Cássia Garcia Simão
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  4. Luciana da Silva Ruiz
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  6. Luiz Marcelo Aranha de Camargo
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  10. Claudete Rodrigues Paula
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Correspondence to Rinaldo Ferreira Gandra.

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Gandra, R.F., Gambale, W., de Cássia Garcia Simão, R. et al. Malassezia spp. in Acoustic Meatus of Bats (Molossus molossus) of the Amazon Region, Brazil. Mycopathologia 165, 21–26 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-007-9079-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-007-9079-7

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