EN
The study investigated 180 clinically healthy dogs and 35 cats with symptoms of otitis externa. 96 strains of Malassezia were isolated, including 13.5% (13 strains) of the lipid-dependent species, and the remainder was classified as M. pachydermatis. Ten lipophilic isolates came from diseased animals, two of which were isolated from dogs. M. globosa (5 strains), M. sympodialis (5 strains), M. furfur (one strain) were isolated within the lipophilic strain pool by using phenotype classification and two isolate species remained unidentified. Genotype identification was performed by PCR-REA (ITS, 26S,Bt) and biochemical identification results for all M. sympodialis and M. globosa strains were confirmed. The M. furfur strain and two isolates of an unrecognizable species were reclassified to M. pachydermatis. Isolating lipid-dependent Malassezia strains from animals having otitis externa is a unique phenomena, and, it seems, that this is the first time in which their isolation and identification from dogs by the use of molecular biology techniques has been described.