Fig. 7.

A. benhamiae wild-type and ΔacuE mutant cells induce comparable symptoms of dermatophytosis in guinea pigs. Kinetics of the mean global score (± SD) reflect the severity of dermatophytic lesions in guinea pig flanks after infection with A. benhamiae strains AbenACUEM1A and AbenACUEM1B or the control parental strain Lau2354-2. Guinea pigs flanks were infected as described in Materials and Methods (n = 3 in both the AbenAcuEM1A and AbenACUEM1B groups, n = 6 in the Lau2354-2 group). A global score was calculated for infected flanks in each guinea pig by adding clinical scores (from 0 to 3) attributed blindly by two independent examiners according to four clinical criteria (alopecia, erythema, squamosis, and crusts). A mean global score was then calculated for each group of flanks.