Prevalence And Spectrum Of Dermatophytes And Non-dermatophyte Mold Isolated From Patients With Tinea Capitis Attending Rank Higher Specialized Dermatology Clinic Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
Background: In the past decades, scalp ringworm or Tinea Capitis has become a major publicrnhealth problem affecting the developing countries. Tinea Capitis is a fungal infection thatrnpredominantly affected scalp and hair shafts. The distribution, epidemiology, frequency, clinicalrnmanifestations, and target hosts varies location to location. According to various studies, TinearnCapitis has been affecting mostly school age children. This harms the psychological andrnemotional aspects of those children lives.rnObjective: The objective of our study was to determine the extent of Tinea Capitis and spectrumrnof dermatophyte and non-dermatophyte molds implicated in causing fungal infection.rnMaterial and Methods: A prospective non-randomized study was conducted at Rank HigherrnSpecialized Dermatology Clinic, from February 2019 to July 2019. A total of 364 studyrnparticipants were collected by convenient sampling techniques. For this study, sociodemographicrnrndata was collected. Then fungal pathogen from Scalp Scraped samples wasrnidentified by using KOH microscopic examination. Those samples were inoculated on tornmycological culture media. All inoculated plates were incubated at appropriate temperature for atrnleast for four weeks. Fungi were identified based on their microscopic, macroscopic and culturalrncharacteristics. The sample data were analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics version 23 software.rnResults: In our study, the overall prevalence of Tinea Capitis 301/364(82.7%). Dermatophytesrnwere isolated in136 (45.2%) and the most frequent pathogen was Trichophyton violaceumrnfollowed by non-dermatophyte molds 121 (40.2%)Aspergillus fumigatus was the most commonrnspecies and mixed infections were observed in 44 (14.6%)cases. Among 301 positive subjectsrnthe predominant age group 1-14(84.4%)years followed by25-44 (10%).rnConclusion: High prevalence of Tinea Capitis infection with Trichophyton violaceum was thernpredominant etiological agent in this study. This shows that Tinea Capitis is still a public healthrnproblem. There is a need for public awareness of the problem and develop a capacity forrnpersonal hygiene.