Molecular epidemiology of dermatophytosis in Golestan, Iran: A cross-sectional study

Keratinophilic fungi, or dermatophytes, are recognized as the predominant fungal agents responsible for superficial skin diseases globally. The identification of species of dermatophytes is crucial for both therapeutic and epidemiological considerations. The primary objective of the present study was to investigate the epidemiology of dermatophytosis among patients who sought medical attention at the medical mycology laboratory in Golestan province. This study aims to provide a comprehensive assessment and analysis of fungal infections occurring in many anatomical regions of the human body and the several diagnostic procedures employed to confirm such infections. In this investigation, 255/550 clinical specimens were obtained from patients thought to have dermatophytosis. All samples underwent direct microscopy and culture examinations. DNA extraction from a fungal colony was conducted using the phenol-chloroform method. Then, the ITS1-5.8s-ITS2 region of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) was amplified by the universal fungal primers ITS1 and ITS4 and digested with enzymes Mval. In the current study, 255 patients (46.3 %) were positive for dermatophytosis. Of these, 38.4 % were male and 61.6 % female. The most common dermatophytes isolated were Trichophyton mentagrophytes/interdigitale (86.7 %) and Trichophyton rubrum (5.1 %), respectivly. The frequency of other species were Trichophyton tonsurans (3.1 %), Microsporum canis (2.7 %), Trichophyton benhamiae (0.8 %), Trichophyton violaceum (0.8 %), Trichophyton quinckeanum (0.4 %), and Microsporum ferrugineum (0.4 %). The findings indicated that Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) is an expeditious and dependable technique for diagnosing dermatophytes. In combination with morphological analysis, PCR-RFLP is recommended as a valuable approach for identifying dermatophytes in diagnostic contexts, particularly within clinical and epidemiological settings.