Clinico-mycological Study of Tinea Capitis in Pondicherry

Abstract

A clinico-mycological analysis of 68 consecutive clinically diagnosed tinea capitis patients confirmed that the disease affects more commonly prepubertal children of either sex. Salient clinical features in order of frequency included patchy hair loss, scaly patches, black dots and inflammatory lesions with erythema, vesiculation and boggy swelling. Scaly type (36.9%) was the most commonly encountered clinical pattern followed by black dot (33.8%) and kerion (29.3%). Direct microscopic examinatin of the affected hair with 20% KOH revealed evidence of fungus in all patients with endothrix (58.8%) being the common pattern noted. The rate of culture positivity of the aetiologic fungus grown on Sabouraud's dextrose agar medium was 82.3%. T. violaceum (66.2%) was the most frequently isolated fungus accounting for both inflammatory as well as non-inflammatory lesions.