Description
Dermatomycosis is an infection of the skin, caused by a parasitary fungus, mostly Trichophyton or Microsporon.
Urgency
Danger
Course
The lesion usually appears as round, hairless spots that occasionally develop a red ring around it and form scab. The individual lesions can also merge into a larger formation and appear as one large crust. Typically areas of hair loss that look like maps will occur. The head and the muzzle are the most commonly infected area. If the infection remains untreated, the fungus will produce spores that spread and lead to new lesions at different body parts. Furthermore itching may occur. In some cases scaling might occur although this symptom is not characteristic for the disease.
Cause
The transfer takes place with direct contact with other infected animals. An indirect transfer (by means of infected objects) is also possible. Both dogs and also cats, and cattle may be carrier of the disease. Even humans are susceptible for the fungus. The fungus infests the hair, growths towards skin and infects adjacent hair.
Therapy
Due to the risk of infection for other animals and humans, in case of suspicion direct contact with lesions should be avoided. The mycosis can be treated with a corresponding drug which needs to be taken for a longer period of time. Often hair around the lesions needs to be shorn; partly a full-body shearing is required.
Emergency measures
Skin diseases are normally no clinical emergencies. In case of development of the symptoms indicated before, it is sufficient to call the veterinarian and to agree upon a date for the next day. In case the consultation hours elapsed, then you may also call the next day, explain the situation and agree upon a date. Meanwhile, you should try to prevent the animal from scratching on the affected spots, since otherwise secondarily caused diseases may develop. For that, you may tinker provisionally a neck collar or slip a T-shirt over the animal. You get shampoos on fungicidal basis at the veterinarian's which are used for therapy. In general, a bathing treatment or shampooing serves the avoidance of some secondary diseases and washes above all allergens and inflammatory products off the skin surface. Since the transmission can also take place indirectly, whereabouts of the dog shall be cleaned thoroughly. Accessories of affected dogs should be removed (burnt). Additionally, the application of fungicides makes sense, but these are quite expensive.