A clinical prevalence of dermatophytic mycoses with an assessment of its clinical manifestations in a tertiary care hospital at Salem, South India.

BACKGROUND: Dermatophytosis is very common among all age groups throughout the world. The incidence of the same is increasing on a steady basis.

AIM: Estimating the clinical prevalence of dermatophytes mycoses among the patients visiting the outpatient unit and assessing its distinct manifestations.

METHODOLOGY: A prospective observational study was conducted with the patients attending the Skin and STD outpatient unit of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Salem. A total of 3068 outpatients attended the department, of which 420 patients were diagnosed with dermatophytic mycoses and were taken for investigating the prevalence.

RESULTS: A total of 420 dermatophytosis patients were included giving a percentage prevalence of 13.69%. There were more female patients (n = 213, 50.71%) than males (n = 207, 49.29%). The most common afflicted age group was 31-40 years (n = 99, 50.71%). Most of the patients had an atypical lesion called tinea incognita (n = 265, 63.09%) where there was no typical classic appearance of dermatophytic infections. The most prevalent clinical manifestation was tinea corporis (n = 73, 17.38%) followed by tinea cruris (n = 69, 16.43%). There were more newly diagnosed dermatophytosis cases (n = 326) than the previously diagnosed cases (n = 94).

CONCLUSION: This study concludes that dermatophytic mycoses were more prevalent among females than males and among the age groups of 31-40 years. The most common clinical presentation was tinea incognita followed by tinea corporis.