Survey of dermatophytes in the hair of small mammals from Austria.

Apparently healthy hair of insectivores and rodents originating from two regions situated at different altitudes in Austria was examined on the presence of dermatophytes. Dermatophytes Microsporum persicolor, Trichophyton georgiae, T. mentagrophytes var. erinacei, T. mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes and T. terrestre were recovered from the hair of 27 animals (32.9%), belonging to 10 species. The results revealed evident specificity of dermatophytes to host mammals irrespective of the effect of different altitude of localities. The existence of dermatophytes in the healthy hair of mammals is due either to mere contamination from environment (findings of geophilic species) or to inapparent infection (findings of zoophilic species).