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[Dermatomycosis and environment].
1Division of Dermatology, Saiseikai Kawaguchi General Hospital, Saitama, Japan.
Summary
Environments can harbor pathogenic fungi, leading to skin infections like tinea pedis. Understanding fungal reservoirs and transmission routes is key to preventing and treating these common fungal diseases.
Area of Science:
- Medical Mycology
- Environmental Microbiology
- Dermatology
Context:
- Fungal infections, particularly dermatophytoses, pose a significant public health concern.
- While environmental fungi are known reservoirs, the discrepancy between T. rubrum's presumed dominance in tinea pedis and T. mentagrophytes' environmental prevalence requires investigation.
- Zoonotic fungal infections are increasing, contrasting with a decrease in geophilic fungal skin diseases.
Purpose:
- To investigate the environmental dissemination and persistence of dermatophytes, focusing on the discrepancy between T. rubrum and T. mentagrophytes in tinea pedis.
- To elucidate the routes of dermatophyte foot infection from environmental sources to human skin.
- To review current knowledge on dermatophyte detection, survival, and eradication strategies.
Summary:
- Dermatophyte propagules contaminate various environmental surfaces (floors, footwear, textiles) and adhere to skin, causing infection.
- The agar stamping method effectively detects dermatophytes on skin and in the environment.
- Trichophyton mentagrophytes propagules can persist for over three months in conditions like rubber boots.
Impact:
- Simple decontamination methods for socks and footwear (washing, hot water bathing, wiping) effectively eliminate dermatophytes.
- Antifungal agents can preemptively eradicate environmental dermatophyte propagules from skin.
- The study highlights the potential for asymptomatic dermatophyte colonization and links Candida albicans oral carriage to dysgeusia.