AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY OF SUPERFICIAL FUNGAL INFECTIONS IN PATIENTS REFERRED TO YAZD CENTRAL LABORATORY, IRAN

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Superficial and cutaneous infections have high prevalence all over the world. It is necessary to be informed of disease prevalence in each zone and be able to identify its causes and dominant species to obtain proper diagnosis, early treatment, planning control, and prophylaxis. The main objective of the present paper is to determine the frequency of fungal infections and their agents and identify different kinds of dermatophytes and their distribution patterns in patients referred to Yazd Central Laboratory, Iran. Methods: In this retrospective descriptive study, patients suspected of having superficial fungal disease were surveyed from March 2011 to March 2013. Samples were taken from lesions, and diagnosis was made by means of fungal culture or direct microscope. In the case of observation of yeast, hyphae, mycelium, arthroconidia, spore, pseudohyphae, and budding cells in the samples, it was considered through positive smear result. The main values of this study were data analyzed by descriptive statistics in SPSS version 17 software; also, a chi-square test was used. Results: 2203 patients were studied: 685 patients (31.1% of all patients) suffered from superficial and cutaneous fungal infection; 498 patients (72.7%) suffered from dermatophytosis, the most prevalent infection, and respectively Cutaneous candidiasis (14.3%), erythrasma (10.3%), Tinea versicolor (2%), and nail aspergillus (0.7%) were next. In 125 cases, the upper limb was infected (25.1%). Conclusion: According to this study, dermatophytosis is the most prevalent and important fungal infection; thus, we should focus on educating and improving the hygiene of the societies in question to prevent and reduce the prevalence of these diseases.