ABSTRACT
Siddi community is the tribal community of African origin living in north Karnataka region since many generations. Few studies have shown the presence of rare dermatophytes of African origin in the Siddi tribal community. This study was performed to detect the presence of such dermatophytes of African origin in the Siddi community. MethodsA total of 1004 samples were collected from 937 patients with superficial infections out of which 102 samples have shown the dermatophytic growth on culture media. All the dermatophytes were identified by phenotypic and physiological characters. ResultsTinea unguium was the prevalent clinical condition and Trichophyton mentagrophytes was the commonest etiological agent to cause dermatophytosis. Two isolates have shown similar macroscopic and microscopic features of as dermatophyte of African origin species (Trichophyton soudanense) and subjected to sequencing of internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) and identified as Trichophyton rubrum. ConclusionsTherefore, presence of rare African species was not seen in the migrated tribal community may be due to the existence of community since more than 5 generations and have adapted to local social and religious practices.