Tinea capitis in eastern Nepal.
BACKGROUND
Tinea capitis is an increasing public health concern throughout the world. The clinical types and etiological agents vary from time to time and place to place. This study was undertaken to identify the etiological agents and to determine the clinico-etiological correlation of tinea capitis in eastern Nepal.


METHODS
Sixty-nine clinically diagnosed cases of tinea capitis were enrolled in this study. Hair roots and skin scrapings were collected from each patient and subjected to microscopy and culture for identification of fungal hyphae and spores.


RESULTS
Tinea capitis accounted for 4.6% of all dermatophyte infections: 68.1% occurred in patients below the age of 11 years with a male to female ratio of 1 : 1.9. "Gray patch" was the most common clinical type (52.2%), followed by "black dot" (17.4%), seborrhoeic dermatitis (13%), alopecia areata (11.6%) and pustular (4.3%). Direct microscopy of hair was positive in 62.3% of patients. Culture positivity was found in 56.7% of patients. Common isolated organisms were Trichophyton violaceum (48.71%), T. mentagrophytes (15.38%), T. tonsurans (12.82%), Microsporum canis (7.69%), T. rubrum and M. gypseum (5.12% each), and M. audouinii and M. nanum (2.56% each).


CONCLUSIONS
Trichophyton violaceum was the most common pathogen of tinea capitis. The clinical manifestations were variable and "gray patch" was the most common clinical presentation in this part of the world.
Jha
Bibeka Nand
BN
Department of Dermatology and Venereology, B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal.
Garg
Vijay Kumar
VK
Agrawal
Sudha
S
Khanal
Basudha
B
Agarwalla
Arun
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008853:Microscopy; D009390:Nepal / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014006:Tinea Capitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*