A study of skin diseases in dogs and cats. III. III. Microflora of the skin of dogs with chronic eczema.
The microflora of the skin was studied in 10 dogs with chronic eczema without clinical signs of secondary infection (Table I). The skin surface was swabbed at 7 different sites, making a total of 70 swabs, 25 of which were taken from visibly inflamed areas and 45 from apparently unaffected skin (Table II). Staph. aureus, Staph. epidermidis, micrococci, alpha-hemolytic streptococci, and Acinetobacter spp. were found consistently. Ten different Gram-negative bacteria, 3 different Gram-positive bacteria, and 2 yeasts were found to occur sporadically (Table III). Compared to a group of 10 healthy dogs a more prolific growth of aerobic microorganisms, a greater number of sites carrying Staph. aureus, and a higher recovery of Gram-negative transients were found in dogs with eczema (Table IV--VII). Within the group of dogs with eczema the growth of Staph. aureus was significantly heavier from eczematous skin areas than from clinically normal skin (Table VIII). In dogs with non-infective dermatitides the colonization of the skin by potentially pathogenic microorganisms may have to be considered in the clinical handling of these diseases.
D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D002415:Cats; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D004285:Dogs; D004485:Eczema / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation