exudates and Dermatomycoses

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Dermatomycoses; Eczema; Female; Humans; Leprosy; Malaysia; Male; Middle Aged; Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; Psoriasis; Retrospective Studies; Sex Factors; Skin Diseases; Skin Neoplasms; Tertiary Care Centers; Urban Health Services; Young Adult

Onychomycosis is a common nail disease with numerous etiological pathogens. In order to determine and trend the local mycological pattern of culture-positive diseased nail samples sent from the Department of Dermatology, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, a five-year retrospective audit was carried out, which revealed that non-dermatophyte molds were the predominant fungi isolated, followed by yeasts and dermatophytes. This is similar to two previous studies in Malaysia, but varies greatly from other studies around the world which showed a dermatophyte-predominant prevalence. This could be due to the nature of the environment our patients encountered.

Topics: Arthrodermataceae; Candidiasis; Dermatomycoses; Humans; Malaysia; Nails; Onychomycosis; Prevalence; Retrospective Studies

Neoscytalidium dimidiatum is an opportunistic fungus causing cutaneous infections mostly, which are difficult to treat due to antifungal resistance. In Malaysia, N. dimidiatum is associated with skin and nail infections, especially in the elderly. These infections may be mistaken for dermatophyte infections due to similar clinical appearance. In this study, Neoscytalidium isolates from cutaneous specimens, identified using morphological and molecular methods (28 Neoscytalidium dimidiatum and 1 Neoscytalidium sp.), were evaluated for susceptibility towards antifungal agents using the CLSI broth microdilution (M38-A2) and Etest methods. Amphotericin B, voriconazole, miconazole and clotrimazole showed high in vitro activity against all isolates with MIC ranging from 0.0313 to 1 µg/mL. Susceptibility towards fluconazole and itraconazole was noted in up to 10% of isolates, while ketoconazole was inactive against all isolates. Clinical breakpoints for antifungal drugs are not yet available for most filamentous fungi, including Neoscytalidium species. However, the results indicate that clinical isolates of N. dimidiatum in Malaysia were sensitive towards miconazole, clotrimazole, voriconazole and amphotericin B, in vitro.

Topics: Antifungal Agents; Ascomycota; Dermatomycoses; Humans; Malaysia; Microbial Sensitivity Tests

An 11-year-old girl presented with multiple blisters on her the right foot complicated with cellulitis. The conventional and molecular identification were performed on the culture. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region in rRNA gene of the isolate was amplified by PCR. The sequence of the amplified ITS region matched 99 % with that of Chaetomium globosum in the GenBank. This is the first report describing C. globosum causing cutaneous infection in Malaysia.

Topics: Base Sequence; Cellulitis; Chaetomium; Child; Dermatomycoses; DNA, Fungal; DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; Female; Humans; Malaysia; Microbiological Techniques; Microscopy; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; Molecular Sequence Data; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid

Domestic maid violence is an assault and coercive behaviour, which mainly includes physical, psychological and at times sexual too, by employer or household members of employer against a person hired as a domestic help. Maid abuse is well known but poorly documented in scientific literature. This is an important global issue. In this article, two illustrated cases of maid abuse are discussed. Their employers allegedly subjected both the victims to physical and psychological trauma. The physical examination of the victims showed poor state of clothing, nutrition, and presence of injuries of different duration. The bruises were irregular to patterned, and were inflicted by beating. Both cases had eczematous contact dermatitis over palms and soles, paronechia, and sub-ungal fungal infection due to unprotected working in wet conditions. In both cases, external ears were deformed like cauliflowers due to repeated trauma. All cases had multiple injuries of varying duration. In this paper, medico-legal and social issues related to maid abuse are also discussed in detail. A possible solution to minimise maid abuse is also suggested. This paper highlights and document maid abuse.

Topics: Adult; Anemia; Contracture; Dermatitis, Contact; Dermatomycoses; Domestic Violence; Ear, External; Edema; Female; Finger Joint; Forensic Medicine; Household Work; Humans; Hypoproteinemia; Malaysia; Malnutrition; Nail Diseases; Physical Exertion; Wounds and Injuries

An in-house prepared M. furfur antigen was used to carry out a seroprevalence study in an urban population in Malaysia by indirect immunofluorescence assay. Of the 800 serum samples from all ages screened, 738 samples were positive for M. furfur specific IgG, giving an overall seropositive rate of 92.3%. There was no significant difference in the seropositive rates among the different gender group and races. However, there was a statistical significant difference in the seropositive rate among different age groups with a lower rate (73%) for the age group 5 years old and below, which increased rapidly to 99% for the 16 to 20 years old age group but declined slightly for the oldest age group. The degree of seropositivity, which semi-quantitatively reflect the anti-M. furfur specific IgG titre, did not show any significant difference among the gender and racial groups. On the other hand, there was a significant difference in the degree of seropositivity among the various age groups, with the 16 to 20 years old age group having the highest antibody titre and the extreme of age groups having the lower antibody titre.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Animals; Antibodies, Fungal; Child; Child, Preschool; Dermatomycoses; Female; Humans; Immunoglobulin G; Infant; Malassezia; Malaysia; Male; Middle Aged; Seroepidemiologic Studies; Sex Factors; Urban Population

A total of 576 dermatophytes were isolated from patients with a variety of skin infections from January 1993 to May 2000. Ten species of dermatophytes were identified: Epidermophyton floccosum (0.7%), Microsporum audouinii (1.1%), M. canis (3.1%), M. gypseum (0.3%), Trichophyton concentricum (3.5%), T. equinum (0.2%), T. mentagrophytes (36.1%), T. rubrum (53.8%), T. verrucosum (0.2) and T. violaceum (1.0%). The body sites most frequently affected by dermatophytes were the buttocks, nails and trunk. Anthropophilic dermatophytes made up 60.1% of the isolates; the most common species was T. rubrum, T. mentagrophytes and M. canis were the two main zoophilic dermatophytes. T. mentagrophytes was isolated from all body sites except the scalp. M. canis was found to be associated with domestic dogs and was not isolated from ethnic Malays. The only geophilic dermatophyte was M. gypseum, an uncommon dermatophyte associated with tinea pedis.

Topics: Arthrodermataceae; Dermatomycoses; Humans; Malaysia; Prevalence

Topics: Animals; Culicidae; Dermatomycoses; Malaysia; Military Medicine; Mycoses