Prevalence of dermatomycosis in a Brazilian tertiary care hospital

Abstract

A total of 233 specimens obtained from suspected cases of dermatomycosis from 189 patients were examined for causative fungi from December 2009 to May 2010 in a tertiary care hospital in the city of Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. Yeast and fungal isolates obtained from specimens were regarded as conclusive diagnosis of mycoses in 82 cases (35.19 %), with the exception of two patients with pityriasis versicolor (2.4 %), in which the diagnosis was made only by direct examination plus clinical diagnostics of individuals. Forty-four subjects (23.28 %) were infected in more than one anatomical site. There was a higher occurrence on female patients (146, 77.2 %) than male (43, 22.8 %). Most of the infected patients were aged between 41 and 70 years (68.29 %). There were no statistically significant differences between occurrence of fungal infection and gender, presence of secondary disease and contact with animals. The largest number of examined material occurred in samples from toenails, which resulted in 50 % of positive cultures. Candida species were the most frequent group causing dermatomycosis in many anatomical sites, mainly in toenails and fingernails. Candida parapsilosis was the most representative (40.24 %) among all agents causing dermatomycosis of toenails and fingernails, followed by Candida tropicalis (20.73 %) and Trichophyton rubrum (10.98 %). Among the dermatophytes, Trichophyton genus represented over 80 % of the isolates, with T. rubrum representing 64.29 %, T. interdigitale (T. mentagrophytes) (21.43 %) and Microsporum gypseum (14.29 %).