Dermatophytoses in Sarajevo Area between 1998-2005
The progressive increase of zoophilic dermatophytes , especially Microsporum (M.) canis, in the etiology of human dermatophytoses has been observed in many regions in Europe. The aim of our study was to assess the frequency of dermatophytes in Sarajevo area during the period 1998-2005. A total of 3302 samples (skin scrapings, hair, scalp and nail fragments) were collected from patients suspected to have tinea infection and cultured on Sabouraud agar. After three weeks of incubation 633 (19.2%) dermatophytes species were identified based on macroscopic and microscopic morphology. Zoophilic species were found in 554 (87.5%) patients. The most frequent isolated dermatophyte was M. canis (80.3%), followed by Trichophyton (T.) mentagrophytes var. mentagrophytes (6.7%), T. mentagrophytes var. interdigitale (4.7%), Epidermophyton (E.) floccosum (3.0%), T. violaceum (1.4%), T. schoenleinii (1.1%), M. gypseum (0.9%), T. rubrum (0.8%), T. verrucosum (0.6%), T. tonsurans (0.3%) and M. ferrugineum (0.2%). The most common types of M. canis infection were tinea capitis (31.7%) and tinea corporis (26.4%). Our findings indicate increase in the frequency of M. canis infection between 1998 and 2002 and the decline over the last years of the observation period, while rate of other zoophilic species T. mentagrophytes var. interdigitale and T. verrucosum did not change significantly.