Dematiaceous Fungi on Wild Rats Inhabiting Oil Palm Plantation, Kerala, India

Manuel Thomas¹*, M. Thangavel¹, K.S. Soumya², P. Rogimon and Thomas³

¹Department of Microbiology, Sree Narayana Guru College, K.G. Chavadi Coimbatore - 641 105, India. ²Food Corporation of India, Regional Office (Maharashtra) Borvali East, Mumbai 66, India. ³Department of Botany, CMS College, Kottayam, Kerala - 686 001, India.

ABSTRACT: Rodents are the most abundant and diversified group of living mammals, constituting about 43% of the total number of mammalian species. Rodents furnish a link between wildlife and humans, displaying humans and his livestock to zoonotic diseases circulating in natural ecosystems. The past few decades witnessed an overwhelming increase in the incidence of fungal diseases due to dematiaceous fungi. The growing population of immunocompromised individuals makes the situation more vulnerable. The present study is an attempt to isolate and identify dematiaceous fungi among wild rats inhabiting oil palm plantation in Kerala, India. A total of 17 dematiaceous fungi belonging to 13 genera were identified. As the contacts between rats and humans in wetland agro ecosystems are inevitable, the incurred results bobbed up much vexation from the public health purview.

KEYWORDS:

Dermatiaceous fungi; Wild rats; Zoonosis; Emerging fungi

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