Abstract: Malassezia yeasts are commensal organisms on the skin of warm-blooded vertebrates. The lipid-dependent Malassezia species have recently been cultured from veterinary specimens. This study investigated and compared different Malassezia species in the skin and external ear canal of healthy and diseased dogs.In this study, sampling was carried out on 152 animals, comprising 90 samples from the diseased group and 62 samples from the healthy group. All of the samples were determined by cytological examination and fungal culture. The isolated yeasts were identified by their morphological features as well as their physiological characteristics. The culture results were positive in only 32.2% samples, including 75.5% samples from the diseased group, and 24.5% samples from the healthy group. A total number of 75 strains from 6 Malassezia species isolated from both groups were detected with a frequency rate of: M. pachydermatis (56%), M. sympodialis (28%), M. furfur (8%), M. obtusa (5.4%), M. globosa (1.3%), M. restricta (1.3%). The present work confirms both the presence of M. pachydermatis as the most prevalent species in both groups, and the presence of some lipid- dependent species of Malassezia.

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