Epidemiological survey of dermatophytosis in meat rabbits with alopecia in Portugal

Abstract

[EN] An epidemiological dermatophytosis survey was carried out in farmed rabbits with alopecia in Northern and Central Portugal. Between August and October 2008, samples from suspected clinical cases of alopecia in meat rabbits on industrial farms were collected and cultured by conventional methods. Effects on the prevalence of several variables, such as breed, age, month of sample collection, configuration of the lesions and presence of concomitant infections in the rabbitries were evaluated using a logistic regression model. The overall prevalence of dermatophytes species was 82.7% (95% CI: 80.1-85.3%). Two dermatophytes species were isolated: Trichophyton mentagrophytes (91.9%) and Microsporum canis (8.1%). Five variables were associated with dermatophyte isolation in univariate analysis. The multivariate logistic regression model identified configuration of lesions (OR=3.15; 95% CI: 1.39-7.15%) and the presence of concomitant infections on the farms (OR=2.71; 95% CI: 1.03-7.12%) as risk factors. Considering the paucity of epidemiological reports in this country, these results could make a useful contribution towards the diagnosis and prevention of rabbit dermatophytosis.