A molecular Study of the Microsporum Canis and Trichophyton Mentagrophytes Associated Fungal Infection: Athlete’s Foot among Farmers

Abstract

Athlete’s foot (Tinea pedis) and toe nails infection (onychomycosis) are disease conditions caused by dermatophytes; both diseases are prevalent in adults, especially in farmers who often wear robber shoes during farming. Proper treatment of dermatophytes related skin diseases needs a proper understanding of susceptibility of the causative agents to the intended treatment option. This knowledge can only be derived from proper identification and characterization of the related fungi. In the present study, both traditional and molecular identification approaches were applied on cultured samples for detection and identification of Tinea pedis. From the PCR analysis, Microsporum canis and Trichophyton mentagrophytes were identified as the two commonest species implicated in Tinea pedis basing on their DNA banding patterns. From the fifty two identified dermatophyte isolates via the conventional identification methods, only 45 isolates were confirmed via molecular approach, with 25 isolated being confirmed as M. canis while 20 isolates were T. mentagrophytes. The same was confirmed with real time PCR quantification.