Infectious Alopecia in a Child Day-Care Center

The document discussed an outbreak of tinea capitis, a fungal infection causing hair loss, in a child day-care center in Birmingham, Alabama. The center had 78 children aged 1 to 4 years, and five children were affected. The report highlighted a shift in the causative agent from Microsporum species, which is typically transmitted from animals to humans and often resolves spontaneously, to Trichophyton tonsurans, which is transmitted person to person and can lead to chronic infections without proper treatment. This shift, along with the increasing number of children in day-care centers, suggested a need for greater attention to the association between tinea capitis and day-care attendance.