Original articleTinea capitis in adults in southern Spain. A 17-year epidemiological studyTinea capitis en pacientes adultos del sur de España. Un estudio epidemiológico de 17 años
Section snippets
Materials and methods
We undertook a retrospective study over a period of 17 years, from 1995 to 2011, of all cases of tinea capitis diagnosed in our dermatology department. The clinical diagnosis was confirmed in all the patients by direct examination using KOH and culture in Sabouraud-chloramphenicol, with and without cycloheximide. The sample was incubated at 27 °C for 2 weeks. Cultures without evident fungal growth were kept for another 3 weeks before being considered negative. The mycological diagnosis was made
Results
Tinea capitis represented 22% of all the skin infections due to dermatophytes. Thirty-three cases (11.4%) out of the 289 cases of tinea capitis were from adults (Fig. 1). Most of these adults (72.7%) were immunocompetent (Table 1), while the others were immunocompromised for different reasons (Table 2). Only three of these adult patients were men, as compared to 30 women, most of them postmenopausal (21 patients, 70%).
In the group of postmenopausal women, 15 (71%) were immunocompetent, while 6
Discussion
The incidence of tinea capitis in our country is higher in children (88.6%) than in adults (11.4%). In adult patients, species of Trichophyton were isolated in 76% of the cases, and species of Microsporum (M. canis and M. gypseum) in the rest. This fact contrasts with the data found in children in our geographical region, as M. canis is by far the main causative agent of tinea capitis in childhood (63.5%).8
Although tinea capitis is considered rare in adults, as shown in this and other studies,13
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Conflict of interest
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