Studies on Fungi associated with Laboratory Animal ‘Golden Hamster' and Antibiotic Effects of Aloe Sap, Garlic Extract and Onion Oil

Healthy hair samples from golden hamsters were examined for the presence of dermatophyte and non-dermatophyte using baiting technique and direct inoculation. Thirty four species and 2 varieties attributed to 17 genera were recovered. Paecilomyces variotii (isolated from 84.4% of the examined hair) and A. niger (81.3%) were more frequently on Sabouraud's dextrose agar (SDA) without cycloheximide. Our results have clearly demonstrated that the hair of hamster was free from true dermatophyte. Using the dilution plate method many different fungal species were isolated from cage material (7 genera and 10 species + 1 variety); from faeces (10 genera and 17 species); from standard chow (3 genera and 6 species) of hamster on SDA without cycloheximide. P. variotii which was the most frequent fungus in the preceding 3 substrates; was completely absent in the presence of cycloheximide in SDA. The present study has demonstrated for the first time the isolation of Trichophyton rubrum from hamster faeces. Also several saprophytic and cycloheximide resistant fungi were isolated. In the air of hamster cage Cladosporium cladosporioides, Penicillium chrysogenum, Alternaria alternata and Scopulariopsis brevicaulis were the most dominant species on SDA with or without cycloheximide.
Using the agar diffusion method; Aloe sap, onion oil, garlic bulb extract and aqueous leaf extracts of Andropogon citratus, Euphorbia sp. and Ruta graveolens were tested for their antifungal activity on 10 Fungal species. It was observed that onion oil exhibited a high inhibitory effect against most of the tested fungi.