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Tinea Capitis among Children and Adolescents in the Farwaniya Region of Kuwait
Author(s) -
Nawaf AlMutairi,
Joshi Arun,
Zaki Amr,
NourEldin Osama,
AlSheltawy Mazen,
ElAdawy Ibtesam,
Sharma Ashok K.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
the journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1346-8138
pISSN - 0385-2407
DOI - 10.1111/j.1346-8138.2003.tb00346.x
Subject(s) - tinea capitis , microsporum canis , microsporum gypseum , trichophyton tonsurans , dermatology , trichophyton , medicine , incidence (geometry) , veterinary medicine , microsporum , antifungal , physics , optics
Analysis of 325 patients (182 males, 143 females) of mycologically proven tinea capitis (TC) seen over a period of two years from January 2001—December 2002 in the Farwaniya region of Kuwait is presented in this study. The age range was 8 months to 17 years. Peak incidence was observed in the 3–14 year age group (79.6%). Positive family history and contact with pets were noted in 22% and 36.7% of the cases, respectively. The non‐inflammatory ‘gray patch’ variety was the most common clinical type, seen in 163 (50.2%) children, followed by the black‐dot variant in 100 (30.2%) patients. A significant proportion of the cases (16.6%) had the uncommonly reported seborrheic dermatitis or dandruff like pattern. Highly inflammatory kerion was encountered infrequently (2.5%). Seven species of dermatophytes were isolated; Trichophyton violaceum in 135 (41.5%), followed by Microsporum canis in 89 (27.4%), Microsporum audouinii in 48 (14.8%), Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes in 31 (9.5%), Trichophyton verrucosum in 15 (4.6%), Trichophyton tonsurans in 6 (1.9%) and Microsporum gypseum in 1 (0.3%) patient. T. violaceum was the most common fungus responsible for the black‐dot variety (89/100) and kerion (4/8) patients. Three cases of kerion (33.3%) grew T. verrucosum. M. canis was the most common species isolated from the ‘gray patch' cases (79/163; 48.5%) followed by almost equal prevalences of T. violaceum (16.6%), M. audouinii (15.3%), and T. mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes (12.3%). Among the seborrheic type of cases, M. audouinii was the most common fungus isolated in 20/54 (37%) followed by T. violaceum in 15 (27.8%), T. mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes in 9 (16.7%), M. canis in 8 (14.8%) and T. verrucosum and T. tonsurans in one (0.3%) patient each. The results are significantly different from those in earlier studies in Kuwait.