ISSN 2756-3413
African Journal of Virology Research ISSN 3421-7347 Vol. 3 (7), pp. 001-004, July, 2009. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
The major etiological cause in human dermatophytoses in Chennai
Babhi Kumari, Kapoor Randi and Rohit Sharma
Mycology Section, Department of Dermatology, University of Delhi, P.O.Box.2101, New Delhi, India.
Accepted 14 September, 2007
Abstract
The present study was undertaken to find the predominant etiological agent of dermatophytoses among the patients attending the out patient clinic of Mycology Section, Department of Dermatology, Madras Medical College and Hospital, Chennai. Specimens were collected from suspected patients with dermatophytoses and examined for the presence of fungal elements, cultured, isolated and identified. Among the 90 suspected patients with clinical symptoms of dermatophytoses, 71 (78.9%) were confirmed in culture. Trichophyton genus was accounted for 93% of dermatophytoses, which was shared by Trichophyton rubrum (73.3%) and Trichophyton mentagrophytes (19.7%), followed by Epidermophyton floccosum (4.2%) and Microsporum gypseum (2.8%). It was noted that tinea corporis (64.8%) is the most prevalent infection followed by tinea cruris (26.8%), tinea pedis (5.6%) and onychomycoses (2.8%). T. rubrum was the predominant species responsible for the dermatophytoses, especially tinea corporis in Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. In addition it was also observed that T. rubrum was most predominant species responsible for the chronic dermatophytoses (81.8%). Further work is in progress to understand the protease profile of the isolates with relation to the chronisity of the infection.
Key words: Dermatophytoses, Dermatophytes, Tinea, Trichophyton and Skin infections.