Study of tinea corporis in patients attending the Dermatology Clinic of Al-Hussein University Hospital, Cairo, Egypt

Background: The etiology of tinea corporis is varied and frequently changing. Objective: The aim of the study was to detect the current prevailing fungi of tinea corporis among patients in our locality. Patients and methods: Skin scrapings were taken from 50 patients with circinate lesion(s) and examined by direct microscopy and culture. One set of scrapings was mounted in 20% potassium hydroxide solution and examined for the presence of fungal elements. The second set was inoculated onto Sabouraud’s dextrose agar to identify the causative fungus. Results: Out of the 50 patients, 29 were males and 21 were females. Their ages ranged from 1 to 55 years (mean ±SD 19.34± 13.1 years). The duration of the disease ranged from 3 to 60 days (mean± SD 15.96 ± 9.3 days). Direct microscopy was positive in 46 (92%) cases and mycological cultures in 45 (90%) cases. Trichophyton violaceum was isolated in 17 (34%) patients, followed by Trichophyton rubrum (13 patients; 26%), Microsporum audouinii (five patients; 10%), Microsporum canis (four patients; 8%), Trichophyton verrucosum (four patients; 8%), and Trichophyton tonsurans in two (4%) patients. Conclusion: The isolated anthropophilic fungi outnumbered zoophilic ones as an etiological cause of tinea corporis. T. violaceum and T. rubrum were the most common agents, followed by other fungi.