Clinico-aetiological profile of onychomycosis at a tertiary care centre in northeast India

---

Original Article

Author Details : Bijayanti Devi, Dilimpou Pamei, Sanalembi Mutum

Volume : 4, Issue : 3, Year : 2018

Article Page : 205-211

https://doi.org/10.18231/2581-4729.2018.0044

Suggest article by email

Get Permission

---

Abstract

Onychomycosis (OM) represents nearly 50 percent of all nail disorders and accounts for about 30 percent of all superficial fungal infections of the skin. Often it becomes a nidus for recurrent superficial skin infections.
Aims and Objectives: To study the clinico- aetiological profile of onychomycosis and identify various predisposing factors.
Materials and Methods: A hospital-based, cross-sectional prospective study from October 2010 to March 2012 in Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology in collaboration with Department of Microbiology at a tertiary hospital in Imphal, Manipur. Demographic profile, detailed history, risk factors, clinical examinations, investigations which consisted of direct microscopy with 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH), culture in Sebouraud’s dextrose agar (SDA), SDA incorporated with chloramphenicol (0.05mgs/ml) and cyclohexamide (0.5mg/ml) were taken.
Results: A total of 122 (54 male and 68 female) patients diagnosed with onychomycosis were included in this study. Maximum number of our patients (56.6%) was between 21 and 40 years of age. Male to female ratio was 1:1.3. Housewives form the predominant group accounting for 41.9%, followed by students (28.7%) and farmer (13.9%). Some of the predisposing factors associated were smoking (25.4%), trauma (31.2%), concomitant fungal infection (59%) and family history of superficial mycosis (16.4%). DLSO (82%) was the commonest morphological pattern of OM, followed by TDO (9.8%). Trichophyton sp (44.3%) forms the commonest aetiological agent of OM. NDMs constituted 36.9% of the total nail cases in our study. Aspergillus sp (73.3%) was the most common isolate among the nondermatophyte molds (NDM), followed by Mucor sp (11.1%). Dermatophytes (45%) were the commonest cause of DLSO, Candida sp were responsible for all the cases of PSO.
Conclusion: Dermatophytes are still the commonest cause of onychomycosis but NDMs and yeast can no longer be ignored as one of the causative organisms of OM.

Keywords: Onychomycosis (OMs), Dermatophytes non dermatophytic moulds (NDMs), Candida, Northeast India.

How to cite : Devi B, Pamei D, Mutum S, Clinico-aetiological profile of onychomycosis at a tertiary care centre in northeast India. IP Indian J Clin Exp Dermatol 2018;4(3):205-211

This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.