Dermatitis caused by Neosartorya hiratsukae infection in a hedgehog

Abstract

This case report describes the fungal dermatitis caused by Neosartorya hiratsukae infection in a household hedgehog confirmed by microscopic examination of conidiophores and DNA analyses including the internal transcribed spacer region, partial beta-tubulin, and the calmodulin gene. It is the first report of a natural N. hiratsukae infection in animals.

FIG. 1.

On presentation, the hedgehog exhibited well-circumscribed complete alopecia, severe scaling, and pin-point hemorrhages. Many quills were excluded from the hair follicles and were merely attached to the keratins in the lesion, thus permitting them to be easily removed from the skin.

FIG. 2.

The homologies of the query sequences compared with the β-tubulin (A) and calmodulin (B) genes. The β-tubulin sequence of the isolate was found to be 100% similar to that of DQ534095, and calmodulin sequences of the isolate were found to be 98% similar to those of AY870699. Conservation bars are the similarity of the sequence between query and type strains. Sequence alignment was performed using CLC Sequence Viewer v4.6.2.

FIG. 2.

The homologies of the query sequences compared with the β-tubulin (A) and calmodulin (B) genes. The β-tubulin sequence of the isolate was found to be 100% similar to that of DQ534095, and calmodulin sequences of the isolate were found to be 98% similar to those of AY870699. Conservation bars are the similarity of the sequence between query and type strains. Sequence alignment was performed using CLC Sequence Viewer v4.6.2.

FIG. 3.

Phylogenetic tree based on the β-tubulin (A) and calmodulin (B) gene sequences of the type cultures in the GenBank databases. The diamond indicates the fungus isolated from the hedgehog. The first series of letters/numbers indicates GenBank database numbers, and the second series of letters/numbers indicates the numbers of the type strains. Sequence alignments were performed using ClustalX v1.8, and MEGA4 v4.0.2 was used for phylogenetic analyses.