Carpet weaving: an occupational risk for onychomycosis?

Background  Some occupations carry a risk for fungal infections. Objective  To investigate the prevalence of onychomycosis in carpet weavers. Methods  Seventy‐seven weavers (the mean age ± SD = 32.97 ± 12.38) from three factories and 77 controls (the mean age ± SD = 38.32 ± 12.38) were examined for onychomycosis. Samples from nails and the carpets, which were being weaved, were taken for mycological investigations. Results  Direct microscopic examination of only two controls’ normal‐appearing nails was positive. Fungal growth was observed in the culture of four weavers’ normal‐appearing nails. It was watched over that most of the weavers had polished‐appearing nails and were using a glue containing cynoacrylate to restore their broken nails due to weaving. Conclusion  The fungal growth observed in weavers’ nails has been accepted as colonization. There is no data about the presence of fungi on normal‐appearing nails. So, we thought that the weavers with fungal colonization should be followed for the development of onychomycosis.