Ecologia de Los Dermatofitos. I Correlacion Entre Dermatofitias y Hongos Queratinofilicos de Suelos de Rosario

Keratinolytic and keratinophilic fungi of children's sandpits in the city of Turin

Soils rich in keratinic residues constitute a permanent or occasional reservoir for dermatophytes and keratinolytic and keratinophilic fungi, and are a source of potential infection for man and animals. The keratinolytic and keratinophilic mycoflora of 28 sandpits in Turin was studied to evaluate the risk of fungal skin infections that is run by children as they play in public parks and to lay the ground-work for a next epidemiological study of soil- and animal-inhabiting dermatophytes found in cities, and their impact on human dermatophytoses. Fifty seven species were isolated and a high percentage (52%) showed keratinolytic activity. Species of Microsporum, Trichophyton, Mariannaea, Aphanoascus, Chrysosporium, Malbranchea and Geomyces showed the most active keratinolysis.

[Demonstrated significance of fungal flora in sand-boxes]

In order to evaluate the risk of fungal contamination in sand-boxes of the city of Angers' game areas, the authors took 100 samples of sand from different environments: parks, gardens, buildings, nursery schools. They report the presence of a varied and important mycoflora and that the frequency and the distribution are more sensitive to the techniques used to isolate the fungus, as well as to the quality of the sand and to the eco-mesological factors in the four studied areas. The examination of earth samples has allowed the findings of a great number of keratinophilie species. The strains living in the sand do not represent a real danger of infection for the children.

[Dermatophytosis caused by Trichophyton ajelloi]

Colonies of Trichophyton ajelloi, geophilic dermatophyte that was here obtained for the first time as a dermatophytosis etiological agent, was isolated from a lesion fixed in the upper zone of the left cheek bone in the face of a six years old girl.