ABSTRACT
This study was conducted on 185 infants divided into two groups: Group I 75 breast fed full term infants [42 males and 33 females] and group II 60 breast fed preterm infants [33 males and 27 females] suffering from resistant diaper dermatitis, aged one month to 12 months, in addition 50 clinically free infants were selected as a control group. Bacterial growth was obtained in 117 [86.7%]. Aerobic facultative bacteria or candida were present in 56 cases [47.9%] and anaerobic bacteria only in 23 cases [19.7%] and mixed anaerobic with aerobic, facultative or yeast was present in 38 cases [32.4%]. So, colonization of candida in this study was 94 cases [80.3%]. The results recorded that the most common candida species isolated were C. albicans 67%, followed by C. tropicals, C. parapsilosis, C. macedoniensis and C. deformans 20.2%, 5.3%, 4.3% and 3.2%, respectively. The commonest strict anaerobic isolates were bacteroid fragilis [39.1%] then peptostreptococcus [30.4%], propionibacterium acnes [17.4%] and peptococcus [13.1%]. The most common aerobic facultative isolates in this study were staphylococcus aureus [41.1%], streptococcus [33.9%] especially non-hemolytic streptococcus, beta-hemolytic streptococcus, alpha-hemolytic streptococcus [14.3%, 10.7% and 8.9%], respectively, staphylococcus epidermidis [14.3%] and E. coli [10.7%]. Diagnosis of zinc deficiency must be considered in any infant with a napkin dermatitis which fails to respond to appropriate treatment