[The current status of medical mycology in dermatology clinics in Japan]

Abstract

To research the current status of mycological examinations in dermatology clinics in Japan, I sent out a questionnaire to 82 universities and 183 dermatologists in Miyagi and Gifu prefectures. A summary of the answers follows: a direct examination with potassium hydroxide solution is usually performed, but in a few university clinics and half of the private clinics in both prefectures it is only used for a differential diagnosis in atypical cases. Culture studies are performed sporadically, and at 3 universities no culture study of dermatophytoses is done at all. The ability to identify isolated fungi is reliable in half of the university clinics, but half of the professors of dermatology thought that these examinations should be left to a laboratory technician. The expertise needed to examine deep mycoses is generally quite poor. Based on these results the level of dermatomycology in Japan appeared to be gradually declining and may drop even lower in the near future. Therefore, I believe it is essential for the Japanese Society of Dermatology to establish an educational program of training courses of mycological examinations for young doctors and leaders. To raise the level of analyses of mycological examinations for rare pathogenic fungi, a system of consultation by specialists must be established.