Environmental Science

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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11888/3192

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Browsing Environmental Science by Author "Abed Al-Rahman Mohammed Salameh"

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    Prevalence of Undetected Tinea Capities in School Children in Nablus Area
    (2000) Abed Al-Rahman Mohammed Salameh; Mohammed S. Ali-Shtayeh; Yahia R. Faidy
    A study of tinea capitis was carried out during October 1998 in 8531 A school children aged 6-14 years (4718 males and 3813 females), attending 12 primary schools located in urban, rural, and refugee camp communities in the l Nablus district in the Palestinian Authority. A total of ~ 1389 of the school children aged 6-12 years (724 males and 665 females) were also surveyed on three occasions at 2-3 months intervals, over a 9-month period (October 1998 - May 1999) using the hair brush technique, for prevalence of asymptomatic tinea capitis carriage. Twenty—three (0.27 %) mycologically proven cases of tinea capitis were detected. The incidence was higher in refugee camp children (0.43 %) than in rural and urban children (0.2 %). Also the incidence was higher in younger children (0.33 %, 22/6760) aged 6-12 years than in older children (0.06 %; 1/1771) aged 12-14 years. Boys were more commonly (0.38 %) affected than girls (0.13 %). The most prevalent etiological agent was the anthropophilic dermatophyte Trichophyton violacem (82.6 % of all — cases) followed by Microsporum canis (zoophilic) (17.4 %). A total of 32 asymptomatic carriers (carriage rate = 0.78 %) were detected. The highest carriage rate was found in refugee camp school children (1.52 %) followed by rural (0.7 %) and urban (0.54 %) children. Carriage rate was higher in winter ranging from 1.02 - 3.01 % in the different communities, than in spring (0.3 - 1.5 %) and autumn (0 - 0.24 %). Six dermatophytes species were isolated from asymptomatic carriers. The most prevalent species recovered was M. canis (65.6 %; 21/32), followed by T.tonsurans (12.5 %; 4/32), M. nanum (9.4 %; 3/32), T. violaceum (6.3 %; 2/32), and T. concentricum and Epidermophyton floccosum (3.1 % each; 1/32). Carriage rate was higher in male children (1.02 %; 22/2165) than in females (0.51 %; 10/1954). Also, carriage rate was higher in younger children <; 10 years old (0.9 %; 24/2762) than in older children > 10 years old (0.6 %; 8l1357). Results on spore load distribution in asymptomatic carriers showed that 96.9 % (31 out of 32) had a spore load of 1-10 colonies per carrier, and c/nly 3.1 % (1 out of 32) of carriers had a spore load of > 10 colonies per carrier. Weak correlation was found in both asymptomatic carriers and index dases between spore load of dermatophytes and non- der1natophytes. However, liercentages of children with spore load of > 10 spores / carrier of both dermatophytes and non-dermatophytes were higher in index cases (4.3 % and 17.4%, respectively) than for those in asymptomatic carriers (3.1% and 3.1%, respectively). Hair and scalp mycobiota of~ 1389 clinically normal children aged 6-12 years attending 12 schools in the Nablus District, Palestinian Authority, was assessed on three occasions over 9-month period (October 1998 - May 1999) using the hair brush technique. One hundred and one fungal species belonging to 33 genera were 3 recovered: 6 dermatophytes, 16 dermatophyte-related keratinophilic fungi, and 79 other keratinophilic fungal species. Species varied considerably in l their frequency of occurrence and abundance based on their relative l importance values (RIVs). The most frequent and abundant species were: Cladosporium cladosporioidcs, Cl. herbarum, Penicillium chrysogenum and Aspergillus flavus. Microsporum canis, Aphanoascus fulvescence and Chrysosporum sulfureum were the most frequent and abundant species of all dermatophytes and dermatophyte-related keratinophilic fungi recovered. The most frequent and abundant dermatophytes in different communities were M canis in rural (RIV 0.87) and urban children (0.45), and 7 and Trichophytpn violaceum (1.41) in refugee camp children. Chrysosporium species were the most frequent and abundant dermatophyte-related keratinophilic fungus in children from all localities followed by Aphanoascus fulvescence. Comparable results on the frequency and abundance of human hair and scalp mycobiota component fungi were obtained based on age group and sex of children. Higher number of species was recovered in spring months (73 species) than in autumn (57) and winter (44) months. Similar occurrence pattern was if also noted for dermatophyte-related keratinophilic species and dermatophytes. Higher percentages of children with moderate (l l-50) and heavy (> 50) l spore loads (7.54 and 0.73, respectively) were found in urban school children community than in rural and refugee camp school children (4.7 and 0.l, respectively) (p > 0.05). Also significantly higher light (1-10) spore load percentages were found in rural (63.67) and refugee camp (62.9) than in urban children (52.6) (p > 0.05). Of all localities, school children with light spore load comprised the highest percentage of the children examined (37.4), followed by moderate‘(6.l3), and heavy (0.4l) spore load categories (F= 4.51, df= 2, 33, p= 0.02). However, children with undetected spore load comprised 36.05 % of all children. Spore load distribution did not show clear seasonal variations in the study period. Significantly higher percentage of moderate and heavy spore load was found in male children (8.72 and 0.69, respectively) than in female children (3.4 and 0.], respectively). However, higher percentages of undetected (38.3) or light spore loads (58.4) were found in females than in males (34.04 and 56.53, respectively). Spore load distribution in both male and female school children did not show clear seasonal variation.