ONYCHOMYCOSIS, ONYCHOLYSIS IN VITRO SUSCEPTIBILITY OF ISOLATES

Introduction: Onychomycosis is the term used to describe the fungal infection of nail units and onycholysis is described as painless
separation of nail plate from its nail bed. It is reported to have an incidence of 0.5 – 5% population worldwide.
Materials and methods: 100 patients clinically suspected to have onychomycosis were taken up for this study. Nail scrapings
and clippings were obtained from deeper part of discoloured or dystrophic parts of nail. All samples were subjected to direct
microscopy (40% KOH) and for culture, all samples were inoculated onto three sets of Sabouraud’s dextrose agar with cycloheximide
and Sabouraud’s dextrose agar with cycloheximide and chloramphenicol and incubated at 25?C and 37?C and observed for growth for
six weeks.
Results: Out of 100 patients examined, 42 were males and 58 females.Out of these 100 patients 49 cases yielded growth on
culture (culture positive) and 46 cases were positive in direct examination (KOH positive). Out of 100 patients suspected of
onychomycosis, 27 cases were found to be Candida albicans, 4 cases infected with dermatophytes , 12 cases infected with
non-dermtophytic moulds , 3 cases of Trichosporon spp and 2 Geotrichium cases .
Conclusion: In conclusion, our study shows that, fingernails in females were more infected with Candida species, microtrauma
being most common cause and often associated with paronychia and nondermatophytes were predominant in toenail infections
associated with occlusive footwear.