The Prevalence and Pattern of Superficial Fungal Infections among School Children in Ile-Ife, South-Western Nigeria.

The Prevalence and Pattern of Superficial Fungal Infections among School Children in Ile-Ife, South-Western Nigeria. Dermatol Res Pract. 2014;2014:842917 Authors: Oke OO, Onayemi O, Olasode OA, Omisore AG, Oninla OA Abstract Fungal infections of the skin and nails are common global problems with attendant morbidity among affected individuals. Children are mostly affected due to predisposing factors such as overcrowding and low socioeconomic factors. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and the clinical patterns of superficial fungal infections among primary school children in Ile-Ife. A multistage sampling was conducted to select eight hundred pupils from ten primary schools in Ile-Ife. Data on epidemiological characteristics and clinical history was collected using a semistructured questionnaire and skin scrapings were done. The prevalence of superficial fungal infections among the 800 respondents was 35.0%. Male pupils constituted 51.0% of respondents while the females were 49.0%. The mean age for all the respondents was 9.42 ± 2.00. Tinea capitis was the commonest infection with a prevalence of 26.9% and tinea unguium, tinea corporis, and tinea faciei had a prevalence of 0.8%, 0.6%, and 0.5%, respectively. Tinea manuum had the least prevalence of 0.1%. Pityriasis versicolor had a prevalence of 4.4%. Microsporum audouinii was the leading organism isolated. The study shows that the prevalence of superficial fungal ...
Source: Dermatology Research and Practice - Category: Dermatology Tags: Dermatol Res Pract Source Type: research