A cross section of skin diseases in rural Allahabad

The pattern of skin diseases varies form one country to another and across different parts within the same country. A two-day multispecialty medical camp was held among the local population at the district of Kausambi, Allahabad, UP, in October 2005. A cross section of pattern of skin diseases observed at the camp is reported and compared with similar studies in literature.

All cases attending the medical camp were included in the study. All those with dermatological complaints were examined in detail, brief relevant history was elicited and clinical diagnosis was made.

Skin diseases comprised 7.86% of all those who attended the camp. The 11-20 year age group was the most common age group involved with 164 (31.4%) cases. Infective disorders were found in 59.1% and noninfective disorders in 40.9% of all the skin cases. Among the infective disorders, fungal infections were most common (54.52%), and among the noninfective dermatoses, eczemas were most common (39.2%) cutaneous disorders.

Our study brought out a higher prevalence of infective dermatoses and a relatively higher, but statistically insignificant, prevalence of fungal infections, scabies and eczemas, thereby reflecting minor regional variance in our study group.