Epidemiological, Clinical and Mycological Profile of Dermatophytic Infections: A Cross-Sectional Study in Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Superficial fungal infections of skin, hair and nail due to dermatophytes are known as dermatophytosis. The sudden increase in the incidence of dermatophytosis in India poses an enormous challenge to healthcare professionals. The prevalence of the disease and the associated environmental factors needs to be evaluated further. There is a need for well-designed studies about dermatophytosis scenario in India. Aim and Objective: This study was aimed to determine the prevalence, etiological agents and clinical patterns of dermatophytic infections among the patients attending a tertiary care hospital in Pune. Material and Methods: It was a hospital based crosssectional study conducted on 105 patients attending a tertiary care hospital over a period of 12 months. Detailed history was obtained from patients included in the study. They were subjected to a clinical examination and investigations including a skin scraping for Potassiumhydroxide (KOH) mount for direct microscopic examination and culture for species identification. Results: Maximum patients belonged to age group 21-30 years (38.09%); males (60.95%) were more commonly affected than females (39.05%). Family members of about 36% patients had history of dermatophytosis. Diabetes mellitus was most common association seen in 5.71% patients. Tinea cruris (31.67%) was the most common clinical pattern followed by tinea corporis (28.5%). KOH positivity was seen in 74.20% and culture positivity was seen in 43.89% of total samples collected. Out of 105 patients, only 42.85% patients showed growth of organisms on culture media, out of which Trichophyton mentagrophytes was the most common species isolated seen in 42.22% patients followed by Trichophyton rubrum in 31.11% patients. Conclusion: Dermatophytosis is more common in young males. There is a chance of infection spreading amongst the family members so counselling during the first visit of the patient regarding lifestyle modification, and treatment compliance is very important for better clinical outcome. Species identification may help epidemiologically but it is a non-sensitive test for the diagnosis of dermatophytosis.