Tahoun Amin, Elnafarawy Helmy K, Elmahallawy Ehab Kotb, Abdelhady Abdelhamed, Rizk Amira M, El-Sharkawy Hanem, Youssef Mohamed A, El-Khodery Sabry, Ibrahim Hussam M M
Department of Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafrelshkh University, Kafrelsheikh 33511, Egypt.
Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt.
Vet Sci. 2020 Sep 8;7(3):130. doi: 10.3390/vetsci7030130.
Diagnosis and treatment of ocular fungal infection in equine seems very challenging for owners and clinicians. The present study aimed to identify and characterize fungal species isolated from the eyes of clinically healthy and diseased equines (N = 100) from Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. The work also involved morphological and molecular characterization of the major fungal species. In addition, correlations between the occurrence of isolated fungi and some of the potential risk factors were also investigated. Interestingly, the prevalence rate of ocular mycosis in all examined equines in the study was 28% and there were major clinical signs associated with ocular fungal infection. Moreover, the identified fungal species included , , , spp., spp., and spp. with a corresponding prevalence rate of 63.9%, 27.8%, 15.3%, 18.1%, 13.9%, and 4.2%, respectively, in healthy equine eyes, while their prevalence in diseased equine eyes was 57.1%, 32.1%, 21.4%, 7.1%, 3.6%, and 0%. Furthermore, a statistical significant association ( < 0.05) was found between the frequency of isolation of and and several risk factors (breed, sex, and ground type), while the remaining risk factors and occurrence of fungi were not statistically correlated. A subset of the species samples positive by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were sequenced and their phylogenetic analysis identified three species of . Taken together, our study provides novel data related to the occurrence of ocular mycosis in equine in Egypt. Given the zoonotic potential of some identified fungi, our data may be helpful for implementation of novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for combating this sight-threatening infection in equine.
对马主和临床医生来说，马眼部真菌感染的诊断和治疗似乎极具挑战性。本研究旨在鉴定和表征从埃及达卡利亚省临床健康和患病马匹（N = 100）眼睛中分离出的真菌种类。这项工作还涉及主要真菌种类的形态学和分子特征分析。此外，还研究了分离出的真菌的出现与一些潜在风险因素之间的相关性。有趣的是，该研究中所有检查马匹的眼部真菌病患病率为28%，且存在与眼部真菌感染相关的主要临床症状。此外，鉴定出的真菌种类包括[具体真菌种类1]、[具体真菌种类2]、[具体真菌种类3]、[具体真菌种类4]属、[具体真菌种类5]属和[具体真菌种类6]属，在健康马眼中的相应患病率分别为63.9%、27.8%、15.3%、18.1%、13.9%和4.2%，而在患病马眼中的患病率分别为57.1%、32.1%、21.4%、7.1%、3.6%和0%。此外，发现[具体真菌种类1]和[具体真菌种类2]的分离频率与几个风险因素（品种、性别和地面类型）之间存在统计学显著关联（P < 0.05），而其余风险因素与真菌的出现没有统计学相关性。对聚合酶链反应（PCR）呈阳性的[具体真菌种类]样本的一个子集进行了测序，其系统发育分析鉴定出了三种[具体真菌种类]。综上所述，我们的研究提供了与埃及马眼部真菌病发生相关的新数据。鉴于一些鉴定出的真菌具有人畜共患病潜力，我们的数据可能有助于实施新的诊断和治疗策略来对抗这种威胁马匹视力的感染。
