An outbreak of ringworm in Karakul sheep caused by a physiological variant of Trichophyton verrucosum Bodin

Abstract

An outbreak of ringworm in Karakul sheep occurred during 1973 among the flocks of at least 14 farmers in South West Africa and the Northern Cape Province. Infections spread from one farm to another as a result of introducing infected stud rams. On one farm a few cattle, a goat and a horse developed lesions after being in contact with infected sheep. Some of the attendants handling infected sheep also contracted the disease. Strains recovered from infected animal’s resembled Trichophyton verrucosum morphologically, but when grown on laboratory media they did not require an exogenous source of vitamins, which was found to be indispensable for strains of this species studied previously.