title: Tinea capitis among children and adolescents in the Farwaniya region of Kuwait.
abstract: Analysis of 325 patients (182 males, 143 females) of mycologically proven tinea capitis (TC) seen over a period of two years from January 2001--December 2002 in the Farwaniya region of Kuwait is presented in this study. The age range was 8 months to 17 years. Peak incidence was observed in the 3-14 year age group (79.6%). Positive family history and contact with pets were noted in 22% and 36.7% of the cases, respectively. The non-inflammatory 'gray patch' variety was the most common clinical type, seen in 163 (50.2%) children, followed by the black-dot variant in 100 (30.2%) patients. A significant proportion of the cases (16.6%) had the uncommonly reported seborrheic dermatitis or dandruff like pattern. Highly inflammatory kerion was encountered infrequently (2.5%). Seven species of dermatophytes were isolated; Trichophyton violaceum in 135 (41.5%), followed by Microsporum canis in 89 (27.4%), Microsporum audouinii in 48 (14.8%), Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes in 31 (9.5%), Trichophyton verrucosum in 15 (4.6%), Trichophyton tonsurans in 6 (1.9%) and Microsporum gypseum in 1 (0.3%) patient. T. violaceum was the most common fungus responsible for the black-dot variety (89/100) and kerion (4/8) patients. Three cases of kerion (33.3%) grew T. verrucosum. M. canis was the most common species isolated from the 'gray patch' cases (79/163; 48.5%) followed by almost equal prevalences of T. violaceum (16.6%), M. audouinii (15.3%), and T. mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes (12.3%). Among the seborrheic type of cases, M. audouinii was the most common fungus isolated in 20/54 (37%) followed by T. violaceum in 15 (27.8%), T. mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes in 9 (16.7%), M. canis in 8 (14.8%) and T. verrucosum and T. tonsurans in one (0.3%) patient each. The results are significantly different from those in earlier studies in Kuwait.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dematology, Farwaniya Hospital, Kuwait.
authors.forename: Al-Mutairi
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Nawaf
authors.forename: Arun
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.forename: Amr
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaki
authors.forename: Osama
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Nour-Eldin
authors.forename: Mazen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Sheltawy
authors.forename: Ibtesam
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: El-Adawy
authors.forename: Ashok K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007730:Kuwait / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014006:Tinea Capitis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology