Tinea cruris in routine urology practice.

INTRODUCTION

Tinea cruris is almost exclusively a male dermatophytosis. This infection is also sexually transmitted, and may cause epidemics in public areas such as common bathing facilities, dormitories and among military recruits. It has been aimed to investigate the prevalence and the causative agents of tinea cruris and tinea pedis in patients who were admitted to the Department of Urology with various pathologies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Direct microscopy and cultures of the epithelial scrapings were performed to identify the causative agent in patients who were admitted to the Department of Urology.

RESULTS

Out of a total of 155 cases examined, 39 (25.1%) were mycologically proven cases of dermatomycosis. In 11 (28.2%) of the patients tinea pedis, in 3 (7.7%) tinea cruris and in 10 (25.6%) Candida intertrigo were detected. In the remaining 15 (38.5%) cases, only direct microscopic examinations were found positive. The most common causative agent was Candida albicans (33.4%) followed by Trichophyton rubrum (29.1%), Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. interdigitale (29.1%), Candida glabrata (4.2%) and Candida tropicalis (4.2%).

CONCLUSION

The investigation of genital dermatomycosis should be a part of routine urological examination and the clinical diagnosis should be confirmed by mycological methods.