International Journal of Research in Dermatology | July-September 2019 | Vol 5 | Issue 3 Page 598 International Journal of Research in Dermatology Dhayagude S et al. Int J Res Dermatol. 2019 Aug;5(3):598-602 http://www.ijord.com Original Research Article Clinicomycological study of tinea infections in and around Pune Snehal Dhayagude 1 , Vidya Arjunwadkar 2 *, Ravindranath Chavan 3 , Renu Bharadwaj 2 , Anju Kagal 2 INTRODUCTION Tinea means fungal infection, whereas dermatophyte refers to the fungal organisms that cause tinea. 1 Dermatophytosis, is commonly referred to as ‘ringworm’. 2 Traditionally, infections caused by dermatophytes have been named according to the anatomic locations involved after the word tinea. Several anatomic sites may be infected by a single dermatophyte species, and different species may produce clinically identical lesions. 2 Dermatophytosis is very common throughout the world. About 20-25% of the world’s population is infected with dermatophytic fungi and the incidence is increasing. 3 The estimated life risk of acquiring tinea infection is 10-20%. 4 Although the tinea infection is not invasive, it’s widespread nature and cost of the treatment is a major public health problem. 5 The various antifungal agents now available for management of tinea infection against dermatophytes are terbinafine, itraconazole, fluconazole, ketoconazole and voriconazole. Resistance to these antifungal agents against ABSTRACT Background: Tinea is a common fungal infection seen in the tropical and subtropical countries affecting the skin and its appendages. The presentation may vary from mild scaling to severe inflammation with bacterial super infection. It may be confused with other manifestation such as psoriasis, seborrhea, drug eruptions, eczema, and contact dermatitis. Hence correct diagnosis is necessary for appropriate treatment, which will reduce morbidity, discomfort and lessens possibility of transmissions. The aims and objectives were to determine clinicomycological profile of Tinea infections in patients attending dermatology OPD of B. J. Govt. Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital, Pune. Methods: Skin scrapings, nail clippings; hair samples from clinically suspected cases of tinea were collected. Identification of dermatophytes from these samples was done by conventional technique. Results: 119 clinically suspected cases of Tinea infections were processed over a period of one year. Out of these cases mixed infection of Tinea cruris with corporis was the predominant (27.73%) clinical presentation. Among all the samples, fungal filaments were seen by KOH mount in 48 (40.33%) whereas 35 (29.41%) samples were confirmed as dermatophytes by culture. Among these 35 isolates of dermatophytes 20 were T. rubrum, 7 isolates were T. tonsurans. 8 isolates were of T. mentagrophytes. Conclusions: In present study mixed infections of tinea cruris with corporis was the predominant clinical presentation and T. rubrum was the most common dermatophyte isolated. Keywords: Tinea, Dermatophytes, T. rubrum, T. mentagrophytes, T. tonsurans 1 Department of Microbiology, Govt. Medical College Miraj, Maharashtra, India 2 Department of Microbiology, 3 Department of Dermatology, B. J. Govt. Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital, Pune, Maharashtra, India Received: 24 March 2019 Accepted: 03 May 2019 *Correspondence: Dr. Vidya Arjunwadkar, E-mail: drvidya.arjunwadkar@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/issn.2455-4529.IntJResDermatol20193236