Clinicoepidemiological and Mycological Study of Tinea Capitis: A Study from a Tertiary Care Centre

The study conducted at a tertiary care center in Ranchi, Jharkhand, focused on the clinicoepidemiological and mycological aspects of tinea capitis, a superficial fungal infection affecting primarily children. It involved 160 patients with positive KOH microscopy. The most common symptom observed was scaling (94.9%), followed by itching (78.4%), hair loss (69.6%), and papules (31.6%). The vertex was the most frequently affected scalp area. The study concluded that the grey patch variant of tinea capitis was most prevalent, with T. violaceum being the most common isolate. Anthropophilic species were mainly responsible for non-inflammatory variants, while zoophilic species caused inflammatory variants. Intra-familial and animal contacts were identified as major sources of infection.