Clinico-Mycological Profile of Dermatophytoses at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Central India

Background : Dermatophytosis is a disease of hair, nails, and stratum corneum of the skin caused by dermatophytes. The prevalence of dermatophytosis in a geographical area depends on a variety of factors such as climate, personal hygiene, and individual susceptibility. The clinical importance of isolating and identifying dermatophytes is to start appropriate treatment & to detect probable infection sources. Also, identification is important for prognostic consideration. Objectives: Our study aims to know the clinico-mycological profile in suspected cases of dermatophytosis. Patients and Methods : A total of 110 suspected cases of dermatophytoses that were diagnosed clinically by a dermatologist were included in this study. Specimen of skin scrapings, hairs & nail clippings wherever appropriate were collected from these patients. Specimens collected were subjected to standard mycological procedures. Results : In our study, the most common age group affected was 21-30 years (31.82%). The majority of the cases were from the lower middle class (38%). The commonest clinical type was Tinea corporis (48%). In 72.73% of cases, we were able to detect fungi either by direct microscopy and/or culture. Out of 62 culture isolates, T.rubrum was found to be the commonest (59.7%), followed by T.mentagrophytes (24.2%), E.floccosum (6.5%), T.tonsurans (3.2%), M. gypseum (3.2%) and one isolate each of M. audouinii and M. canis . Conclusion : With proper techniques, various species of dermatophytes can be identified. But conventional methods are time-consuming and a week to a month is required for identification to species level. So the development of rapid molecular techniques is the need of the hour.