{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T10:03:56Z","timestamp":1789812236891,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"Veterinary World","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789344000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03cq4gr50","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["vworld"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Aim: Infectious dermatitis caused by bacterial, yeast, and fungal pathogens is an important veterinary concern, while antimicrobial resistance and adverse effects associated with conventional therapies highlight the need for safe topical alternatives. Clove essential oil exhibits broad antimicrobial activity; however, controlled evidence of its therapeutic efficacy against multiple cutaneous pathogens remains limited. This pilot study evaluated the non-inferiority and dermal safety of a topical clove essential oil spray compared with standard treatments in rat models of pyoderma, Malassezia dermatitis, and dermatophytosis.\n\nMaterials and Methods: Thirty Wistar Hannover rats were allocated among experimental skin infection models induced with Staphylococcus pseudintermedius, Malassezia pachydermatis, or Microsporum canis. For each model, four rats received 2.5% w\/w clove essential oil spray, four received the standard treatment (2% w\/v chlorhexidine for S. pseudintermedius or 2% w\/v ketoconazole for M. pachydermatis and M. canis), and two served as negative controls. Treatments were applied topically twice daily for 15 days. Therapeutic efficacy was assessed on days 5, 10, and 15 using percentage reduction in clinical index score (CIS), pathogen reduction, and culture negativity. Non-inferiority was evaluated using a prespecified margin of \u221220% for CIS reduction. Dermal irritation was assessed using erythema and edema scores.\n\nResults: By day 10, clove essential oil spray was non-inferior to the standard treatments in all three infection models. CIS reductions for clove essential oil versus standard treatment were 59.03% versus 64.58% for S. pseudintermedius, 61.46% versus 61.81% for M. pachydermatis, and 55.56% versus 61.11% for M. canis. By day 15, CIS reductions reached 100%, 97.72%, and 80.56%, respectively, with corresponding standard treatment values of 100%, 100%, and 83.33%. Complete pathogen reduction was achieved for S. pseudintermedius and M. pachydermatis, whereas M. canis culture negativity reached 75% in both active-treatment groups. No erythema or edema was observed following repeated clove essential oil spray application.\n\nConclusion: Topical 2.5% w\/v clove essential oil spray demonstrated non-inferior therapeutic efficacy by day 10 and excellent dermal tolerability across bacterial, yeast, and fungal experimental skin infections. These proof-of-concept findings support further dose-optimization and randomized clinical studies in naturally infected companion animals.\n\nKeywords: clove essential oil, dermal safety, dermatophytosis, infectious dermatitis, Malassezia dermatitis, non-inferiority, pyoderma, topical antimicrobial.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.14202\/vetworld.2026.4069-4084","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T09:08:04Z","timestamp":1789808884000},"page":"4069","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.14202\/vetworld.2022.policies","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Therapeutic efficacy and dermal safety of topical clove essential oil spray against bacterial, yeast, and fungal skin infections in rat models: A pilot non-inferiority study"],"prefix":"10.14202","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2125-1522","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eakachai","family":"Thongkham","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/05qebwp08","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Mahanakorn University of Technology"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3047-1052","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Glenn Neville","family":"Borlace","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03cq4gr50","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Khon Kaen University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2944-2561","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ranee","family":"Singh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03cq4gr50","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Khon Kaen University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4263-3813","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ketmanee","family":"Senaphan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03cq4gr50","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Khon Kaen University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0645-1585","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jareerat","family":"Aiemsaard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03cq4gr50","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Khon Kaen University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"5308","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref0","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"1.\tChan WY, Hobi S, Ferguson A, Elsohaby I. 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Front Vet Sci. 2025;12:1716637.","DOI":"10.3389\/fvets.2025.1716637"}],"container-title":["Veterinary World"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/veterinaryworld.org\/Vol.19\/September-2026\/14.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T09:08:12Z","timestamp":1789808892000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/veterinaryworld.org\/Vol.19\/September-2026\/14.php"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]]},"references-count":35,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.14202\/vetworld.2026.4069-4084","relation":{},"ISSN":["0972-8988","2231-0916"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0972-8988","type":"print"},{"value":"2231-0916","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]]},"article-number":"14"}}