An-Najah Staff

A study of tinea capitis was carried out during the period January-June 1996 in 7525 primary schoolchildren aged 6-14 years comprising 4050 boys and 3475 girls in the Nablus district in the Palestinian area. Fourteen primary schools located in rural, urban and refugee camp areas were surveyed in this study. Seventy-five (1.0%) mycologically proven cases of tinea capitis were detected. The incidence was higher in schools in rural areas (1.9%) than in refugee camps (1.1%) or urban areas (0.4%). Also, the incidence was higher in young children (1.4%) aged 6-10 years than in older children (0.5%) aged 10-14 years. Boys 52 (1.3%) were more commonly affected than girls 23 (0.7%). Higher disease incidence was found to be correlated with larger family and class sizes. Trichophyton violaceum was the most common aetiological agent (82.7%) followed by Microsporum canis (16%) and Trichophyton schoenleinii (1.3%). The findings are discussed in relation to the children's different socioeconomic and hygienic backgrounds. A mycological investigation carried out on 117 tinea capitis cases at a clinic in the area under study showed similar results to those of the school survey.

A study of tinea capitis was carried out during October 1998, involving 8531 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 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 month 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