Fungal infection as a cause of skin disease in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia: tinea pedis and tinea manuum.

In the period between April 1984 and April 1988 a total of 4294 clinically suspected cases of dermatomycoses were examined for causative fungi. Of these cases 680 were suspected as tinea pedis and tinea manuum. These cases belonged to 21 different nationalities. Both sexes were represented and 649 cases (95.4%) were adults while 31 (4.6%) were prepubertals. Clinical diagnosis was confirmed by direct microscopy in 505 cases or 74.4% (485 adults and 20 prepubertal children). Out of these, 504 cases were positive on culture and yielded 516 isolates. Candida species and other yeasts were responsible for 88.9% and dermatophytes for 11.1% of these infections. The interdigital type of lesions was the most common type (91.9% of all infections) followed by the hyperkeratotic scaling type (6.9%) while the acute inflammatory type was only 1.2% of infections. Treatment showed satisfactory results in most of the cases.