Trichophyton Rubrum with the 'raubitschekii' morphotype: the first report from Turkey

In modern taxonomy, Trichophyton rubrum with the 'raubitschekii' morphotype differs from the common strains of T. rubrum morphologically, physiologically, and clinically, despite genetic homogeneity. In this paper, we report the first autochthonous Turkish cases in a 24-year-old woman and her 26-year-old fiancé with tinea cruris and tinea manuum, respectively. The isolates were proven to be T. rubrum with the 'raubitschekii' morphotype by their morphological and physiological characteristics including the following: (1) granular colony surface, (2) profuse macroconidia and microconidia, (3) strongly positive urease activity after 3 days, (4) non-perforating hair, (5) restricted growth and producing no alkaline reaction on bromocresol purple-milk solids-glucose agar, and (6) restricted growth and producing no conidia on 3-9% NaCl-supplemented Sabouraud agar. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of both isolates were sequenced, and the assembled DNA sequences were examined using the Basic BLAST (nucleotide-nucleotide) software of the National Center for Biotechnology Information web database. Actually, the lack of epidemiological data on this variety is notable, and the actual prevalence is unknown. Otherwise, routine methods misidentified the strains as T. rubrum or unrecognized cases were underreported.