Tinea capitis in Benghazi, Libya

Background Tinea capitis is a worldwide problem. It affects mainly school age children. Late detection and improper treatment of the inflammatory type of this disease may result in disfigurement and permanent alopecia. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence, clinical types, an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of dermatology 2000-04, Vol.39 (4), p.263-265
Main Authors: Gargoom, Ali Mohamed, Elyazachi, Moayed B., Al-Ani, Sabah Maki, Duweb, Gamal Ahmed
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child, Preschool
Female
Human mycoses
Humans
Incidence
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Infectious diseases
Libya - epidemiology
Male
Medical sciences
Mycoses
Mycoses of the skin
Prevalence
Retrospective Studies
Tinea Capitis - classification
Tinea Capitis - epidemiology
Tinea Capitis - etiology
Tropical medicine
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Summary:Background Tinea capitis is a worldwide problem. It affects mainly school age children. Late detection and improper treatment of the inflammatory type of this disease may result in disfigurement and permanent alopecia. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence, clinical types, and causative species of tinea capitis in Benghazi, Libya. Methods One hundred and ninety six patients with tinea capitis were enrolled in this study. Hair stumps and scales were collected from every case and exposed to direct microscopic examination using 10% potassium hydroxide solution, and cultivation on modified Sabouraud's dextrose agar with cyclohexamide and chloramphenicol. Results Tinea capitis accounts for 45% of all superficial fungal infection and 92% occurred in children below the age of 10 years. The gray patch type was the most common clinical variety (53.6%), followed by black dots, seborrhoid type, and kerion (25.5%, 10.2%, and 8.2%), respectively. Four patients with a clinical picture of alopecia areata‐like lesion and one patient with a favus‐type lesion were seen. Species identification revealed that Trichophyton violaceum was the most common causative agent, responsible for 49.4% of infection, followed by Microsporum canis (38.6%) and T. verrucosum (7.8%). From seven patients the isolate was a mixture of both T. violaceum and M. canis. Conclusions There has been a dramatic decrease in the incidence of favus with complete disappearance of T. schoenleinii. T. verrucosum as a causative agent of tinea capitis in this area has been reported for the first time in this study.
ISSN:0011-9059
1365-4632
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-4362.2000.00961.x