RESUMEN
Superfi cial fungal infections are most common in tropical and subtropical countries. In this study, 297 suspected superfi cial fungal infection cases were identifi ed among 15,950 patients screened. The collected samples (skin, nail, and hair) were subjected to direct microscopy with potassium hydroxide and cultured on Sabourauds dextrose agar to identify the fungal species. The prevalence of superfi cial fungal infection was 27.6% (82/297), dermatophytosis was 75.6% (62/82), and non-dermatophytosis was 24.4% (20/82). Among the isolated dermatophytes, Trichophyton rubrum was the commonest species (79%) and Candida (60%) the commonest non-dermatophytic species. Tinea corporis was the commonest (78%) clinical presentation.
RESUMEN
Medicine is an ever changing science. Thus new knowledge generated by research and clinical experience widen the knowledge; change the understanding of natural history of disease and its application in therapeutics. Thus policy makers, clinicians and researchers must evaluate and use information existing in the literature to implement in their healthcare delivery. The father of field epidemiology, John Snow during 1854 studied the cholera epidemic in London and demonstrated the association of epidemiological and statistical methods in medical research. Popularity gained after Bradford Hill’s lectures were published as a series of articles in the Lancet and then in book form, principles of medical statistics. The book went through 11 editions during his life-time.