Dermatophytes and Dermatophytosis in Cluj-Napoca, Romania—A 4-Year Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Dermatophytes are filamentous keratinophilic fungi which affect nails, skin, and hair. Their variable distribution in the world justifies local epidemiological studies. During recent decades, few studies have been published regarding the epidemiology and etiology of dermatophytosis in Romania. The aim of this study was to identify the dermatophytes isolated from superficial fungal infections. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such study conducted in the area of North-Western Romania. Over the past four years, samples collected from outpatients with suggestive lesions for dermatophytoses (nails, skin, hair), who addressed several private practice dermatologists from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, were sent to a specialized laboratory and examined by microscopy and culture. A total of 350 samples from 322 patients were examined. One hundred samples (28.6%) collected from 90 patients (27.9%) were positive by direct microscopy and/or culture. Among the 63 positive cultures (18%), 44 dermatophytes (69.8%), 2 molds (3.2%), and 17 yeasts (27%) were isolated. The main dermatophyte species identified were Trichophyton rubrum (mostly from onychomycosis) and Microsporum canis (from tinea capitis and tinea corporis in children). Yeasts (Candida species) were isolated from nails, especially from women.

Epidemiological Characterization of Dermatomycosis in Ethiopia

“…However, in this study we found a higher prevalence of dermatomycosis among female than males. This result has been reported by other authors in previous studies; 23 , 24 although it is contradicted in other studies. 13 , 25 Possible explanation for this could be due to females usage of costumes, which cause excessive sweating, frequent housework, inability to maintain good nail care and, cosmetic reasons could be a factor for the high occurrence of dermatomycosis among females.…”

“…(24.5%) and Candidacruzie (9.8%) were the main fungi causing tinea corporis respectively and this is in agreement with similar studies in Ethiopia, Nigeria and India. 21 , 23 , 30 , 41 , 42 …”

Human and Zoonotic Dermatophytoses: Epidemiological Aspects

“…In the last decade, a number of publications from different geographic areas focusing on dermatophytes' species epidemiology reported data from Eastern Europe (Colosi et al, 2020) and the Balkan (Otašević et al, 2019;Sakkas et al, 2020), from the Middle East (Ozkutuk et al, 2007;Armon et al, 2020), Africa (Coulibaly et al, 2018), South East Asia (Do et al, 2017), and South America (Silva-Rocha et al, 2017;Carrascal-Correa et al, 2020).…”

Mixed Etiology COVID-19 Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis (CAPA)—A Case Report and Brief Review of the Literature

“…Regarding the limitations of our paper, the first we would underline is the lack of molecular diagnosis of the Aspergillus species involved. Although some of the most widely used markers for molecular diagnosis are beta-tubulin, and elongation factor, since the molecular diagnosis is not always available in developing countries, the fungal culture and microscopic description remain valid methods to be used, in order to identify, although not definitively, different fungi [ 4 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. Another relevant limitation is represented by the pathological product from which the Aspergillus species in our paper were identified.…”