Conclusion
Zoophilic dermatophytes remain an important public health concern in both developed and developing countries. Microsporum canis is a major cause of dermatophytosis in plenty of domestic animals and tinea capitis in developed countries and urban region of developing ones.
Together with other zoophilic species M. canis contributes significantly to a number of glabrous skin dermatophytosis worldwide. Trichophyton verrucosum and T. mentagrophytes cause considerable morbidity and economic losses in rabbit and cattle farms, respectively. Strict compliance with the recommended preventive measures can effectively eliminate these problems. In contrast, T. benhamiae and T. erinacei are typical emerging zoonotic pathogens associated with pets and small wild mammals. The prevalence and spread of these species require close monitoring, particularly because the infection rates in the principal hosts, guinea pigs, and hedgehogs, respectively, are high, and the hedgehogs are increasingly popular as pets worldwide. There are still numerous questions to resolve in basic research on dermatophytes concerning pathogenesis, species concept, and ecology of some species. Additionally, reproducible and effective genotyping methods are not available for all major zoophilic dermatophytes what limits our understanding of global epidemiological trends, monitoring of changes on the level of genotypes and detecting outbreaks.Acknowledgments VH was supported by the Charles University Grant Agency (GAUK 8615), Charles University Research Centre program No. 204069, Czech Ministry of Health (AZV 17-31269A), and the project BIOCEV (CZ.1.05/1.1.00/02.0109) provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of CR, and ERDF. The contribution of AC was supported by the project of Charles University Grant Agency (GAUK 600217). Vit Hubka is grateful for the support from the Czechoslovak Microscopy Society (CSMS scholarship 2016).