Natural focus of microsporosis caused by Microsporum canis Bodin.

The authors discovered a natural focus of microsporosis caused by the dermatophyte Microsporum canis Bodin. An adult man and four children were afflicted by this dermatophytosis. Symptomatic and inapparent forms of the disease in the focus were also detected in several cats and dogs. Homeless cats were found to be the source of the causative agent and its permanent hosts. A chainlike transmission from these cats was triggered to home-kept cats and dogs and to family members of their owners. Both, the clinical picture of the disease and characteristics of the strains isolated corresponds with the published data. The authors summed up the evidence collected to date on the epidemiology of microsporoses caused by M. canis.