Pattern of Fungal Dermatoses Investigations in Upth: A Five-Year Review

Awopeju Temitayo Oluwajenyo,Dasetima Altraide,Bolaji Otike-Odibi

doi:10.11648/j.cajph.20210702.13

Awopeju Temitayo Oluwajenyo, Dasetima Altraide + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20210702.13

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Abstract

Background: Infectious dermatoses are rife in resource limited settings. Fungi skin infection constitutes the majority of infective skin conditions seen by physicians in primary, secondary, and tertiary health care centers, in Nigeria. Methods: A retrospective five-year review of the pattern of fungal dermatoses investigations among patients attending the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital between 2015 – 2020 was carried out. Results: There were five hundred and fifty-five (555) patients referred for fungal investigations over the five-year period. The data showed that most of the patients referred for fungal investigations were between 21 – 30 years (36.4%) and 31 – 40 years (18.2%) respectively. Most of the patients were observed to be female (57.1%). The bulk of the referrals originated from the dermatology/medical outpatient clinic (90.3%). About 45% (252/555) of the referrals was observed to have fungal growth. The most common fungi isolated was <i>Aspergillus</i> sp (41.67%) and <i>Candida</i> sp (35.3%) with Blastomyces spp and Fusarium spp being the least isolated fungi (0.4% each). Conclusion: The study showed that the pattern of dermatoses was not significantly associated with age or gender. Superficial fungi infections still need to be addressed as a public health problem among the growing populace of Nigeria. Similarly, there seem to be a relative increase in the prevalence of skin infections among elderly people in the period under review.

Highlights

Skin diseases have always maintained a place of relevance in health care delivery spanning from primary to tertiary health care in developing countries
The findings of the study showed a 45% prevalence of fungal growth in patients suspected to have fungal dermatoses. This is in contrast with the reports of Osaigbovo in Benin City, which observed a 31.3% prevalence of fungal growth among patients referred for microbiological investigations for skin infections
The results of the current study showed that fungal growth was mostly occurring in individuals between 21 – 40 years old

Summary

Introduction

Skin diseases have always maintained a place of relevance in health care delivery spanning from primary to tertiary health care in developing countries. Many of the dermatologists involved in daily clinical work in these parts of the world are in the big cities and cases in rural areas need to be referred to the cities before they can access skin care This applies to South and Central America, Asia and Africa [1, 2]. Fungi skin infection constitutes the majority of infective skin conditions seen by physicians in primary, secondary, and tertiary health care centers, in Nigeria [6,7,8] In some cases such as the dermatophytoses, clinical diagnosis is straightforward but laboratory identification is necessary to direct treatment and institute prophylactic measures [9,10,11]. There seem to be a relative increase in the prevalence of skin infections among elderly people in the period under review

Results

Discussion

Conclusion