Dermatophytoses in Kenya

Abstract

Dermatophytoses in Kenya were investigated in a survey of 51 primary schools, 3,200 random African skin patients and in racially mixed private practice. T. violaceum, T. ferrugineum and M. canis, in that order of frequency, were found to be the common causes of tinea capitis. Tinea pedis, tinea corporis and onychomycosis were strikingly rare, especially in Africans.

A synopsis is given of surveys carried out during the last decade in east Africa, including our own investigations in north Uganda and the Tanzanian coast; the ecology of tinea in north east sub-Sahara Africa differs considerably from that in west Africa.