ABSTRACT
Tinea manuum comprises roughly 5% of all cases of tinea, and the main culprit is known to be Trichophyton (T.) rubrum, T. mentagrophytes var. erinacei is a dermatophyte that may be transmitted from hedgehogs, and it has been reported in Korea now that vast diversity of pets are brought into existence. Tinea manuum caused by T. mentagrophytes var. erinacei, is frequently localized to the initial site of exposure, and thus may be confused with hand eczema or pompholyx. The patient visited the outpatient clinic with an erythematous scaly patch with pustule on the right finger after being initially misdiagnosed with housewife eczema. Numerous hyphae were evident on KOH smear examination, and confirmative diagnosis of tinea manuum caused by T. mentagrophytes var. erinacei was made after culturing scales from the lesion for molecular biological analyses. The patient is currently under follow-up without relapse after being treated systemic and topical antifungal agents.
Subject(s)
Humans , Ambulatory Care Facilities , Antifungal Agents , Arthrodermataceae , Eczema , Eczema, Dyshidrotic , Fingers , Follow-Up Studies , Hand , Hedgehogs , Hyphae , Korea , Recurrence , Tinea , Trichophyton , Weights and MeasuresABSTRACT
Hedgehogs are nocturnal spiny mammals in a rodent family. Recently in Korea, the more hedgehogs are raised in the house as pets, the more people are acquired various infections from them. Herein, we report a case of Trichophyton(T.) mentagrophytes var. erinacei infection transmitted from the patient's pet hedgehog. The patient was a 37-year-old man who raised a hedgehog for 6 months. He presented with scaly, erythematous papules and plaques on the left hand and right elbow for 3 months. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) examination, fungus culture and PCR for the fungal strain showed T. mentagrophytes var. erinacei. Treatment was performed systemically and topically with antifungal agents and skin lesions were improved without recurrence. Up to date, there have been only three case-reports of T. mentagrophytes var. erinacei infection transmitted from pet hedgehogs in the English literature. Here we report a rare and interesting case.
Subject(s)
Adult , Humans , Antifungal Agents , Elbow , Fungi , Hand , Hedgehogs , Hydroxides , Korea , Mammals , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Potassium , Potassium Compounds , Recurrence , Rodentia , Skin , Sprains and Strains , TrichophytonABSTRACT
The hedgehog has recently become a fashionable pet in South Korea, especially among the younger persons. However, hedgehogs have been rarely reported to carry fungus that can cause human dermatomycosis. We report such a case. A 12-year-old boy was bitten by his hedgehog one week prior to presentation; he developed two clearly defined erythematous plaques with some pustules on the fingers. Periodic acid-Schiff stain of the biopsy specimen showed long, septated fungal hyphae in the keratin layer. KOH examination and fungus culture showed Trichophyton(T.) mentagrophytes. The subtype was identified as T. mentagrophytes var. erinacei by sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer regions of theribosomal DNA. The patient was treated with oral itraconazole (3.3 mg/kg, twice a day for 4 weeks) and topical ketoconazole cream with potassium permanganate wet dressings twice a day, resulting in complete resolution of the skin lesions.