RESUMO
Dermatophytes are a group of clsoely related keratinophilic fungi representing about well defined 40 strains placed under 3 species, Trichophyton, Epidermophyton and Microsporum. They are responsible for a group of diseases termed dermatophytoses. Of these, tinea capitis which is one of the most common infection in pediatric age. Its importance emerges from that it is highly contagious, so it is an important source of population suffering. This work aimed at determing the prevalence of tinea capitis in school children in Menoufiya Governorate, the causative organisms, the risk factors and methods of control. To achieve the purpose of this work, six schools were selected randomly in rural, semi urban and urban regions. Three schools were primary and three were preparatory. They were mixed for males and females. The age of the studied children ranged from six to thirteen years. The result of these work showed that tinea capitis is a relatively common infectious dermatological disease in our Governorate with a prevalence of 1.125%, with a male to female ratio of 5:1. it is more common among age group from 6 to 10 years than the age group from 11 to 13 years. T. mentagrophytes was the most prevalent organism below the age of 10 years, while M. audouinii was the most prevalent organism above the age of 10 years. T. soudanese were determined in black dot lesions. It is more common among rural school children than semi urban and urban schools. We concluded that Mycological culture is the best method for diagnosis of tinea capitis infection, mixed dermatophytic infection is rare due to lipids found in some dermatophytes and possess an antimycotic activity and isolation of new organism as T. soudanese may explain resistant cases for treatment