Occurrence of Fungal Contamination due to Unhealthy Haircutting during Hajj

During hajj, some pilgrims shave or shorten their hairs in streets or in unlicensed salons which lack health and safety standards. This study was undertaken to determine the occurrence of fungal contamination of hair samples in pilgrims who practice this kind of haircuts. About 150 hair specimens collected in pre-sterilized Petri dishes. Each hair specimen was cultured into two Sabourauds dextrose agars, one of them was fortified with chloramphenicol and cycloheximide. The result showed that 103 samples were found positive for fungal growth. The number of non-dermatophytes was 88 (85.4 %) mainly Aspergillus (66), Penicillium (19), while the dermatophytes number was 15 (14.6 %) mainly M. audouinii (5) followed by T. terrestre (4) species. The highest dermatophytes number (3) was seen in three nationalities Egyptian, Nigerian and Pakistani, while the highest age group number was seen in people with age less than 20 years old (5) followed by people with age group greater than 60 years old (4). It was concluded that unsafe or unhygienic haircuts can be a potential risk for dermatophytic fungal infection. It is worth noting that the numbers of healthy salons need to be increased.