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The current Indian epidemic of superficial dermatophytosis due to Trichophyton mentagrophytes —A molecular study
Author(s) -
Nenoff Pietro,
Verma Shyam B.,
Vasani Resham,
Burmester Anke,
Hipler UtaChristina,
Wittig Franziska,
Krüger Constanze,
Nenoff Kolja,
Wiegand Cornelia,
Saraswat Abir,
Madhu Rengarajan,
Panda Saumya,
Das Anupam,
Kura Mahendra,
Jain Akshay,
Koch Daniela,
Gräser Yvonne,
Uhrlaß Silke
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
mycoses
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.13
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1439-0507
pISSN - 0933-7407
DOI - 10.1111/myc.12878
Subject(s) - trichophyton rubrum , dermatophyte , trichophyton , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , antifungal
Summary The disease burden of chronic‐relapsing and therapy‐refractory superficial dermatophytosis dramatically increased in India within the past 5‐6 years. In order to evaluate the prevalence of this trend, 201 skin scrapings were collected from patients from all parts of India and were tested for dermatophytes using both fungal culture and a PCR ‐ ELISA directly performed with native skin scrapings. Fungal culture material was identified by genomic Sanger sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer ( ITS ) region and the translation elongation factor ( TEF )‐1α gene. In total, 149 (74.13%) out of the 201 samples showed a dermatophyte‐positive culture result. Out of this, 138 (92.62%) samples were identified as Trichophyton ( T .) mentagrophytes and 11 (7.38%) as Trichophyton rubrum . The PCR ‐ ELISA revealed similar results: 162 out of 201 (80.56%) samples were dermatophyte‐positive showing 151 (93.21%) T mentagrophytes ‐ and 11 (6.79%) T rubrum ‐positive samples. In this study, we show for the first time a dramatic Indian‐wide switch from T rubrum to T mentagrophytes . Additionally, sequencing revealed a solely occurring T mentagrophytes “Indian ITS genotype” that might be disseminated Indian‐wide due to the widespread abuse of topical clobetasol and other steroid molecules mixed with antifungal and antibacterial agents.