Brush-culture method for diagnosing tinea capitis

Using traditional methods to verify the existence of a fungal infection in children with suspected tinea capitis is a cumbersome process. Scraping scale and pulling hairs for culture or microscopic examination can be time-consuming and uncomfortable for the child. This study is the first comparison of this method with an alternate brush-culture method for diagnosing tinea capitis. In 70 children with symptoms suggestive of tinea capitis, there was strong agreement between methods in detecting disease or lack thereof (McNemar's test, P less than .2). In the 51 paired positive cultures, those obtained by brush culture turned positive significantly faster (t test, P less than .01) than samples obtained by the traditional method. The brush method is a reliable, painless, and more expedient way to obtain cultures from children with suspected tinea capitis.