Dual infection of a white-tailed deer by Dermatophilus congolensis and Alternaria alternata.

Infection by both Dermatophilus congolensis and Alternaria alternata was found in a 5 1/2-year-old, female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Encrusted lesions characteristic of dermatophilosis were observed on the hocks, flanks, and back. Giemsa-staining of smears of material from beneath the crusts revealed branching filaments, transversely and longitudinally divided into packets of coccoid cells typical of D congolensis. Hyphae morphologically consistent with those of A alternata were found in methenamine-silver- and hematoxylin-and-eosin-stained sections of tissue from the ears, flanks, and back. Nutrient agar cultures inoculated with tissue from an ear and hindlimb of the deer yielded, respectively, A alternata and D congolensis.