[Clinical and mycological characteristics of onychomycosis due to Candida at Institut Pasteur of Côte d'Ivoire]

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to study the clinical and mycological characteristics of onychomycosis due to Candida in mycology unit of Institut Pasteur of Côte d'Ivoire.

Patients and methods: This is a retrospective study which was carried out on patients from 1990 to 2016 for mycological diagnosis of onychomycosis and which socio-demographic characteristics, direct examination and culture results were recorded.

Results: In this study, 1898 patient files were selected. The average age of the patients was 31.69 years (standard deviation=15.11) with a sex ratio of 0.87. The frequency of Candida onychomycosis from patients received was 61.7%. Finger nails (67.7%) were more affected by this condition, followed by those of the toes (25.3%). Ninety cases of double localization of the nails of the hands and toes have been found. Candida albicans was the most frequent species accounting for 79.1% of isolated yeasts. Among the non-albicans, C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis were isolated at the level of the toenails with frequencies rate of 11.2 and 9.6%.

Conclusion: Onychomycosis due to Candida are relatively common in Abidjan and are dominated by C. albicans. The mycological confirmation of the fungal etiology in onychopathy and a good hygiene of the nails will allow a better management.

Keywords: Candida; Côte d’Ivoire; Institut Pasteur; Onychomycoses; Onychomycosis.