ISOLATION OF CANDIDA ALBICANS FROM ORAL CAVITY AND RECTUM OF DOGS

Abstract

Human and animal skin and mucous membranes are the places where C. Albicans is present as a commensal, and can cause disease under certain condition. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of C. albicans in clinically healthy dogs and dogs with dermatological, gastrointestinal or urogenital disorders (diseased dogs). A total of 30 (7,09%) of 423 samples were found to be positive for C. albicans. C. albicans was isolated from 10 (52,63%) samples from the oral cavity of the dogs with clinical symptoms, and nine (45,45%) samples originated from the dogs without clinical symptoms. The slight difference in the number of isolates from the rectal cavity was observed, six (54,54%) and five (45,45%) of diseased and healthy animals, respectively. Significant differences were not observed in the total number of isolates between the dogs with clinical manifestation (16 (53,33%) isolates) and without clinical manifestation of disease (14 (46,66%)). The number of isolates in the observed categories as well as their micro- and macromorphology do not indicate an invasive form of C. albicans. Key words: C. albicans, isolation, dogs, oral cavity, rectum