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Abstract

Tinea faciei in a goat handler due to Microsporum canis Dear Editor, Microsporum canis, a zoophilic dermatophyte, was established as the prime cause of tinea faciei in a 27-year-old male patient who was occupationally exposed to the animal. The diagnosis was based on the direct demonstration of hyaline, slender, septate, branched hyphae of dermatophyte in the cutaneous lesions by potassium hydroxide technique and the isolation of M. canis in pure and luxurient growth from the clinical specimen on Sabouraud agar and dermatophyte test medium. The retrospective epidemiological investigation indicated that the patient acquired the infection from his six-month-old female goat that had ringworm type lesions on the head and neck region. The mycological examination of the clinical material from the diseased goat also revealed the presence of M. canis. The detailed morphology of the human and caprine isolate was studied in Narayan stain. It is suggested that ringworm in a man with a history of exposure to an animal should be thoroughly investigated for zoophilic dermatophytes. Tinea faciei is the ringworm of the face and is caused by dermatophytic fungi such as Microsporum audounii, M. canis, Microsporum gypseum, Microsporum nanum. Trichophyton concentricum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton verrucosum [1,4]. The literature scan reveals paucity of information on tinea faciei from India [5]. The present communication, therefore, describes a case of tinea faciei in a young adult animal handler due to M. canis. In addition, the use of Narayan stain for the morphological studies of the dermatophytes is also reported. The skin scrapings collected from the margins of most recent lesions in the man and the animal with the help of sterilized scalpel in a clean black coloured paper constituted the material for the investigation. The affected hair from the skin of the head and neck of the goat were also plucked with sterile forceps. The samples were processed in the laboratory of Veterinary Public Health. The patient's lesion was examined by Wood's lamp. The specimens were treated with 15% solution of potassium hydroxide and examined microscopically for the presence of the fungal elements, if any. The specimen from the patient as well as the diseased goat were cultured on to the duplicate slants of Sabouraud dextrose agar with chloramphenicol (0.05 mg/ml) and actidione (0.5 mg/ml) and on dermatophyte test medium (DTM). Sabouraud medium was incubated at 37 °C and DTM was kept at 20 °C. The incubated media were …