FREQUENCY OF TINEA PEDIS IN MILITARY RECRUITS AT DERA ISMAIL KHAN, PAKISTAN

Background: tinea pedis is the most common fungal infection especially prevalent in certain groups. the objective of this study was to determine the frequency of tinea pedis and its predisposing factors in the military recruits. material & methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted at combined military hospital, d.i.khan, from march 2012 to september 2012. a random sample of 350 individuals was selected out of individuals who were undergoing initial military training. clinical examination, microscopic examination of scrapings from suspected lesions to see fungal hyphae and subsequent culture was done for species identification. findings were recorded on a performa. data was analyzed using spss version 10.0. results: the mean age of subjects was 18.57±1.02 (16-23) years. on clinical examination tinea pedis was suspected in 34 (9.71%) out of 350 subjects. a total of 10 (2.8%) individuals were found to have positive fungal hyphae while 14 (4%) were culture positive for trichophyton. out of 14 positive cultures, 8 yielded growth of trichophyton mentagrophytes, 5 trichophyton interdigitale and one yielded trichophyton rubrum. predisposing factors were occlusive footwear for >8 hours/ day in (96%), history of excessive sweating in (7.7%), history of fungal infection of feet during last 6 months in (3.4%) and fungal infection of nails during the last 6 months in (2.8%). conclusion: the prevalence of tinea pedis in pakistani military recruits is low. occlusive footwear for more than 8 hours a day is the major risk factor. excessive sweating and history of previous fungal infection are also risk factors