Abstract

Studies on dermatophytes isolated from patients in tertiary health institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria were carried out between August, 2009 and January, 2011. Collection, isolation, characterization and identification of the isolated fungi were achieved using both conventional laboratory methods (in vitro culture and microscopy) and molecular techniques (Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extraction, Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and DNA sequencing). Twenty- one different isolates were obtained, in which into ten species and two strains belong to the dermatophytic group, two species of systemic mycoses agents and seven opportunistic mycoses agents. The adult emerge with the highest percentage of occurrence of dermatomycoses (82.32%) among the different age groups encountered in the study. There was significantly higher prevalence of dermatomycoses in female (53.81%) than in male (46.18%). Also, body infection was the most frequent (49.4%) while face infection (3.6%) had the least frequency in the studied areas.

Key words: Dematomycoses, fungi, dermatophytes, mycoses, gender.