RESUMO
The present study was carried out on 30 patients, [12 males and 18 females] with typical erythrasma and 20 controls. Obesity was detected in 18 [60%] patients and in 6 [30%] of the controls. Generalized erythrasma was present in 15 female patients who were diabetics and/or obese, while localized erythrasma was present in the rest. In males, the commonest sites infected were the groin and the toe webs. Eleven [36.7%] of the patients gave positive history of diabetes mellitus. Fasting and post prandial blood sugar levels for the diabetic and non diabetic patients showed a statistically significant increase when compared to the control group. The diagnosis of erythrasma was confirmed by demonstration of corynebacterium minutissimum [C.M.] by direct microscopic examination of stained preparations and by culture on blood agar. Isolation of C.M. from 6 [30%] of the controls supports the opinion of some authors that C.M. is a member of normal skin flora. On the other hand, the mycological study of the patients revealed concomitant association of erythrasma with trichophyton mentagrophytes in the groin of 5 [16.7%] patients, and with trichopyton rubrum in the groin and toe webs of 4 [13.3%] patients. Also, candida was isolated from 14 [46.7%] patients