Abstract

Archana Dukare, Dr. Ravindra Khadse*, Smita Boyar, Sonal Chavan, Sharmila Raut

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Dermatophytosis is one of the most commonly encountered cutaneous fungal infections worldwide. Recently, marked increase in the isolation of Trichophyton interdigitale. The changing epidemiology of fungal infection is not only of public health interest as a “new” pathogen to an area but also is of clinical and microbiological importance. Material and Methods: It is the clinco-mycological study of 250 dermatophytoses cases to find out trichophyton species as causative agent. The isolation and identification of fungus is performed by conventional methods like direct microscopy and culture on sabouraud's dextrose agar, dermatophyte test medium. The T. interdigitale is differentiated from T. mentagrophytes by MALDI-TOFMS technique. Results: The dermatophytes were isolated in 132(52.8%) cases of suspected dermatophytoses. Trichophyton 113(85.6%) is the commonest isolated dermatophytes in which T. rubrum 40(30.3%), T. mentagrophytes 37(28.02%) followed by T. tonsurrans 23(17.42%), T. schoenlenii 7(5.30%). Out of 37 isolates of T. mentagrophytes, 10(27.02%) were T. interdigitale. The history of contact with animals observed in 50% cases The commonest age group affected by T. interdigitale was 16-30 years with male preponderance. T. interdigitale isolated from cases of tinea unguium (4), tinea pedis (3), and each one with tinea corporis, tinea barbae, tinea capitis. Conclusion: It is imperative to be aware of the changing patterns of causative fungi for making adequate strategies for prevention and treatment. The conventional methods had failed to identify T. interdigitale strains, while MALDI-TOFMS analysis enabled the distinct classification as trichophyton species of T. interdigitale and helpful for the identification of dermatophyte species.