TY - JOUR AU - Morris, Daniel O. AU - O’Shea, Kathleen AU - Shofer, Frances S. AU - Rankin, Shelley T1 - Malassezia pachydermatis Carriage in Dog Owners T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2005 VL - 11 IS - 1 SP - 83 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Yeasts of the genus Malassezia serve as both commensal microorganisms and pathogens on the skin of humans and domestic animals. Although rare, cases of life-threatening fungemia in people have been attributed to Malassezia pachydermatis, for which dogs are a natural host. Zoonotic transfer has been documented from dogs to immunocompromised patients by healthcare workers who own dogs. We investigated the role of pet dogs as risk factors for mechanical carriage of M. pachydermatis on human hands. Dogs and their owners were sampled as pairs, by fungal culture and nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Although fungal culture was not a reliable means by which to detect carriage of the yeast on human hands, PCR identified M. pachydermatis on most (≈93%) human participants. Human carriage of ubiquitous opportunistic pathogens such as M. pachydermatis underscores the importance of good hand hygiene by healthcare professionals. KW - Dogs KW - Dermatitis KW - atopic KW - Yeasts KW - Malassezia KW - Fungemia KW - Intensive care KW - neonatal KW - Zoonoses KW - Research KW - United States DO - 10.3201/eid1101.040882 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/11/1/04-0882_article ER - End of Reference