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| LETTER TO EDITOR |
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| Year : 1996 | Volume
: 62
| Issue : 2 | Page : 126-127 |
Extensive tinea corporis caused by T verrucosum in a patient of HIV infection
Thangam Menon, S Ranganathan
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Correspondence Address:
Thangam Menon
PMID: 20948004
How to cite this article:
Menon T, Ranganathan S. Extensive tinea corporis caused by T verrucosum in a patient of HIV infection. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol 1996;62:126-7 |
How to cite this URL:
Menon T, Ranganathan S. Extensive tinea corporis caused by T verrucosum in a patient of HIV infection. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol [serial online] 1996 [cited 2013 May 20];62:126-7. Available from: http://www.ijdvl.com/text.asp?1996/62/2/126/4342 |
| To the Editor, | |  |
A 30-year-old man residing in suburban Madras was referred to the Department of Dermatology, Madras Medical College, Madras, for the treatment of scaly, patchy skin lesions throughout the body suggestive of tinea infection. He was subsequently found to be seropositive for HIV. Skin scrapings were collected for direct microscopy and culture. KOH examination showed the presence of fungal hyphae and chlamydospores. Culture on Sabouraud's dextrose agar (SDA) was very slow growing with growth appearing after 60 days. The colony was slightly folded, heaped glabrous and grayish brown in colour. No pigmentation was observed on the reverse side of the colony. The colony morphology on SDA, enhanced growth with thiamine and inositol, rapid hydrolysis of casein were suggestive of Trichophyton verrucosum.
Lactophenol cotton blue preparation of the fungus grown on SDA showed distorted hyphae with sparse antler like branching and chlamydospores in chains. The fungus grown on enriched media showed tear shaped microconidia and rat-tail shaped macroconidia. The macroconidia had 3-5 cells and was shaped like a string bean. Microscopy confirmed the identity of the fungus as Trichophyton verrucosum.
Trichophyton verrucosum is more frequently associated with cattle ringworm disease. However, isolation of Trichophyton verrucosum from human ringworm disease has been reported from India. [1,2] Klokke et al[3] have reported the isolation of this species from human ringworm disease in South India. However, in previous reports, the infection was described to be erythematous, inflammatory, pustular, localized lesions which responded to treatment. In the present study we report the isolation of Trichophyton verrucosum from a case of extensive tinea corporis in a HIV+patient. The lesion was non-pustular and non-inflammatory with scaling and absence of a well-defined margin.
Immunosuppression due to HIV infection might have led to this chronic non-inflammatory, non-pustular, extensive infection caused by a zoophilic species. Perhaps, this is the first report of an extensive, non-inflammatory tinea corporis caused by Trichophyton verrucosum.
| References | | |
| 1. | Das-Gupta SN, Shome SK. Studies in medical mycology. I. On the occurence of mycotic diseases in Lucknow. Mycopath Applic 1959;10:177-86.  [PUBMED] |
| 2. | Padhye AA, Thirumalachar MJ. Dermatophytosis in Poona, India. Observations on incidence, clinical features, environmental factors and causal agents studied during 1959-1963 at Sasson Hospitals, Poona. Mycopath Mycol Applic 1970;40:325-36. |
| 3. | Kane J, Smitka C. Early detection and identification of Trichophyton verrucosum. J Clin Microbiol 1978;8:740-7. [PUBMED] [FULLTEXT] |
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