Study of tinea corporis in patients attending the Dermatology Clinic of Al-Hussein University Hospital, Cairo, Egypt

Background: the etiology of tinea corporis is varied and frequently changing. objective: the aim of the study was to detect the current prevailing fungi of tinea corporis among patients in our locality. patients and methods: skin scrapings were taken from 50 patients with circinate lesion(s) and examined by direct microscopy and culture. one set of scrapings was mounted in 20% potassium hydroxide solution and examined for the presence of fungal elements. the second set was inoculated onto sabouraud’s dextrose agar to identify the causative fungus. results: out of the 50 patients, 29 were males and 21 were females. their ages ranged from 1 to 55 years (mean ±sd 19.34± 13.1 years). the duration of the disease ranged from 3 to 60 days (mean± sd 15.96 ± 9.3 days). direct microscopy was positive in 46 (92%) cases and mycological cultures in 45 (90%) cases. trichophyton violaceum was isolated in 17 (34%) patients, followed by trichophyton rubrum (13 patients; 26%), microsporum audouinii (five patients; 10%), microsporum canis (four patients; 8%), trichophyton verrucosum (four patients; 8%), and trichophyton tonsurans in two (4%) patients. conclusion: the isolated anthropophilic fungi outnumbered zoophilic ones as an etiological cause of tinea corporis. t. violaceum and t. rubrum were the most common agents, followed by other fungi.