African Journal of Parasitology Research

ISSN 2756-3391

African Journal of Parasitology Research ISSN 2343-6549 Vol. 5 (4), pp. 304-307, April, 2018. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

A study of the predominant etiological agent in human dermatophytoses

Mayawati Gavai1, Lekhi Ahmed1, Kumar Reddy1 and Mala Agarwal2

1Sri Paramakalyani College, Alwarkurichi, India.

2Sri Paramakalyani Centre for Environmental Studies, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted 14 January, 2007

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to find the predominant etiological agent of dermatophytoses among the patients attending the outpatient 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%) andMicrosporum 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%). Trubrum was the predominant species responsible for the dermatophytoses, especially tinea corporis in Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. In addition it was also observed that Trubrum 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.