Epidemiology of dermatomycoses of humans in central Poland. Part I--Superficial infections caused by yeasts and moulds.

Abstract

This work presents the epidemiology of dermatomycoses and their etiological agents of people living in the Lódź region, Central Poland, over the years 1987-1996. The analysis involved subjects referred by physicians to three major mycological laboratories in Lódź (covering the entire mycological diagnostics of the Lódź region). The study comprised a total of 25,737 persons aged 1-82. Positive results of mycological examinations were obtained for 14,084 (54.7%) patients. The total number of 14,295 positive mycological results included 6902 (48.3%) isolations of non-dermatophyte fungi. The non-dermatophytes included: Candida-like (69.8%), moulds (26.9%) and lipophilic yeasts (3.3%). The distribution of non-dermatophytes was characterized by dependence on sociodemographic features such as subjects' age, place of residence, education and occupation. Candida-like fungi are etiological factors of superficial infections of all clinical types whereas moulds were found to cause infections of finger and toe nails and periungual walls.