DERMATOPHYTIC FOOT AGENTS IN PATIENTS WITH DIFFERENT CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of causative agents for Tinea pedis based on three clinical features. In the study, 150 foot-skin scraping samples from 141 patients who have been prediagnosed as tinea pedis at Dermatology Department of Atatürk University were studied. These samples were tested by using convantional examination methods. In identifying the isolated strains, following characteristics were noticed: growth period, colony morphology, production of pigment on the reverse of colony, characteristic hyphae formation, types of micro macroconidia and urease activity. The rate of positive culture was obtained high ratio in male patients (67.7 % ) compared to females (32.3 %). Trichophyton rubrum strains were the most isolated fungus (67.7%); followed by % Trichophyton mentagrophytes (27.8 %) and with only once strain (1.5 %) Trichophyton tonsurans, Trichophyton violaceum and Epidermophyton floccosum. Trichophyton rubrum was the most frequent dermatophyte in Tinea pedis. Our findings were generally similar to the other studies, so the geographical differences, contrarily to the expected, were not effective in the epidemiology of these infections.