Trichophyton bullosum is a zoophilic dermatophyte from the Arthroderma benhamiae complex with a poorly known distribution. In this study, we report a case of dermatophytosis caused by T. bullosum in a 6-year-old male horse who had a skin lesion located in a saddle area. The infection spread rapidly to the upper chest and to both sides of the trunk. The dermatophyte was isolated in culture and identified by sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS rDNA). To date, this is the first verified case of animal infection due to T. bullosum in Europe following the 2012 report of human infection in France. We hypothesize that this species can be relatively common in horses and donkeys, but it is confused with other zoophilic species responsible for infections with similar clinical manifestations, and when isolated in culture, it is misidentified as the phenotypically similar T. verrucosum. Previous cases of dermatophytosis caused by T. verrucosum-like dermatophytes in horses and donkeys were reviewed together with human infections transmitted from these animals. This summary estimates possible distribution width of T. bullosum. The taxonomy of T. verrucosum-like dermatophytes is extremely difficult due to lack of original material and poor morphology of species. Molecular genetic methods are necessary to verify the identification of these fungi. ITS1 or ITS2 region of rDNA alone is sufficient for correct identification.

1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Katerinska 32 121 08 Prague 2 Czech Republic

Department of Botany Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Benatska 2 128 01 Praha 2 Czech Republic

Dermatological outpatients' department Kojeticka 1021 277 11 Neratovice Czech Republic

Laboratory of Clinical Mycology Public Health Institute in Ostrava Partyzanske namesti 7 702 00 Ostrava Czech Republic

Laboratory of Fungal Genetics and Metabolism Institute of Microbiology of the AS CR v v i Videnska 1083 142 20 Praha 4 Czech Republic

Laboratory of Medical Mycology Department of Parasitology Mycology and Mycobacteriology Prague Public Health Institute in Usti nad Labem Sokolovska 60 186 00 Prague 8 Czech Republic

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