Trichophyton quinckeanum, a zoophilic dermatophyte mostly known as the causative agent of rodent favus, is relatively rarely reported to cause human infections. Indeed, no infections were detected in Czechia between 2012 and 2015 despite routine verification of species identification by ITS rDNA sequencing. By contrast, 25 human and 11 animal cases of infection were documented from December 2016 to December 2020 and the rates tended to grow every following year. Interestingly, most of the cases were reported in the Olomouc region, suggesting a local outbreak. We bring the evidence that human T. quinckeanum infections are most commonly contracted from infected cats or, less frequently, dogs. Although rodents or contaminated soil and environment could be the source of infection to cats and dogs, the occurrence of infections in multiple animals in the same household suggests direct transmission among animals. Confirmation of the identification by molecular methods is highly recommended due to morphological similarity with T. mentagrophytes/T. interdigitale. Antifungal susceptibility testing of isolates to eight antifungals was performed using EUCAST methodology (E.Def 11.0). Among the tested antifungals, terbinafine, amorolfine, ciclopirox and efinaconazole were most potent in vitro and elevated minimum inhibitory concentrations were obtained for fluconazole and ketoconazole.

Department of Bacteriology and Mycology Public Health Institute Ostrava 702 00 Ostrava Czech Republic

Department of Biomedical Sciences Institute of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty of Medicine University of Ostrava 703 00 Ostrava Czech Republic

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

Department of Clinical Microbiology Pardubice Regional Hospital 53 203 Pardubice Czech Republic

Department of Dermatology Přerov Hospital 751 52 Přerov Czech Republic

Department of Microbiology University Hospital Olomouc 775 15 Olomouc Czech Republic

Department of Parasitology Mycology and Mycobacteriology Public Health Institute in Ústí nad Labem 186 00 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases University Hospital Olomouc 775 15 Olomouc Czech Republic

Dermatology Center 757 01 Valašské Meziříčí Czech Republic

Dermatology Center DERMI s r o 639 00 Brno Czech Republic

Dermatology Center Hranice Hospital 753 22 Hranice Czech Republic

Dr Drlik Dermatovenereology 789 85 Mohelnice Czech Republic

Laboratory of Fungal Genetics and Metabolism Institute of Microbiology Czech Academy of Sciences 142 20 Prague Czech Republic

Laboratory of Mycology and Parasitology Hospital České Budějovice 370 01 České Budějovice Czech Republic

Veterinární Klinika MVDr Vlastimil Pospíšil 68 201 Vyškov Czech Republic

Veterinární Klinika Veterix 79 601 Prostějov Czech Republic

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