A Clinical and Mycological Study of Tinea Corporis

Jang, Soo Jung; Choe, Yong Beom; Ahn, Kyu Joong

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Tinea corporis includes all superficial dermatophyte infections of the skin other than those involving the scalp, beard, face, hands, feet, and groin. The most common lesion is an annular lesion with central clearing area. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the correlation of clinical and mycological features of tinea corporis. METHOD: We performed clinical and mycological study on 105 cases of tinea corporis at Department of Dermatology, Konkuk University Hospital from August 2002 to October 2003. RESULTS: The ratio of male to female was 1: 1.02. Tinea corporis was most prevalent in the twenties. Of the clinical variants of tinea corporis, the annular type was most commonly noted. Sixty-nine cases (66%) had the single lesion. In 71 cases (67.7%), the size of individual skin lesion was less than 5 cm in diameter. The unexposed area (55.7%) was more frequently affected than exposed area (44.3%) and the most common site was anterior chest (20.1%). Coexisting fungal infection was found in 60 cases (57.1%), and the cases of tinea pedis was the most common. Forty-five cases (42.9%) had a history of contact with animals that were thought be to infection source. Among 105 cases, dermatophytes were isolated in 73 cases. They were Trichophyton (T.) rubrum (58 cases), T. mentagrophytes (8 cases), Microsporum (M.) canis (5 cases), M. gypseum (1 case), and T. tonsurans (1 case). No species specificity was noted in annular type, and M. canis was more commonly isolated from the smaller lesion. CONCLUSION: Zoophilic dermatophyte infection associated with prior contacts with animals and infection caused by introduced species are increased by rise of families breeding animal pets and more frequent abroad interchanges.