Cheikhrouhou F, Makni F, Sellami H, Besbes M, Ayadi A
Laboratory of Parasitology-Mycology, Sfax Faculty of Medicine, Sfax, Tunisia.
Mycoses. 2003 Sep;46(8):334-5. doi: 10.1046/j.1439-0507.2003.00891.x.
Between January 1995 and December 2000, 512 cases with mycologically confirmed tinea capitis have been diagnosed in our laboratory. In addition, finger nail samples have been taken from 211 patients out of 512. The culture of the nail samples taken was positive for 80 patients (38%). The isolated dermatophytes were the same in the nails and the scalp. Microsporum canis was isolated in 82% of nail samples. Trichophyton violaceum grew only in 18% and Trichophyton quinckeanum in one case. A T. violaceum onychomycosis was found in two patients with tinea capitis. Twenty-one cases of tinea were resistant to 6 weeks treatment with griseofulvin. Thirty per cent of them have had fungal elements in nails. Dermatophyte colonization of the nails in tinea patients could be a factor of tinea capitis transmission and could explain some recurrent tinea capitis cases and therapy resistance.
