Soil samples from sporotrichosis transmission belt area: Searching for fungal species and their antagonistic activity against Sporothrix brasiliensis .

Since 1998, the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has become a public health problem regarding sporotrichosis, a disease caused by spp. involving contact with infected cats. Efforts to isolate these species from environmental sources are not always successful. In our study, soil from residences situated in cities of Rio de Janeiro where cats with sporotrichosis live was collected and cultured an attempt to isolate spp. but it was not successful. However, other saprophytic fungal species were isolated from soil and identified and among them was the most frequent. From there, we decided to study the interaction of this species with , the principal agent that causes sporotrichosis in this state. The results showed that ten isolates of inhibited the radial mycelial growth of with different percentage of inhibition. The interaction between them revealed the pattern described as overgrowth by antagonist. In conclusion, our data suggest that fungal species with very fast growth and capable of producing metabolites could hinder the growth of spp., it also opens the way for the identification of secondary metabolites with biological activity that could be tested against pathogenic fungi.