Tinea capitis is a known common infection among schoolchildren in developing countries that is still underreported in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to examine the epidemiologic and etiologic profile of tinea capitis among school-aged children in a rural area in southern Ethiopia. We collected demographic and clinicodermatological data from school children aged 3-12 years with tinea infections. Pathologic specimens were taken for potassium hydroxide (KOH) mount and mycological culture. Dermatophyte species were identified by macroscopic examination of the colony and microscopic examination of fungal cultures. A total of 634 schoolchildren were screened in the study; 128 cases were suspected for tinea capitis based on clinical examination of which 99 patients (mean age 6.7 years within a range of 4-12 years), who were subsequently positive, either based on KOH examination or showed growth of dermatophytes on culture, were included in our study. The ratio of males to females was 3:1. A total of 88 patients (89.9%) had a culture positive for dermatophytes. The zoophilic species Trichophyton verrucosum was the most prevalent isolate (n = 29 cases), followed by the anthropophilic species T. tonsurans (n = 27). The other Trichophyton species implicated were T. mentagrophytes (n = 14), as well as T. schoenleinii, T. soudanense, and T. violaceum. Only 11 of the isolates belonged to the genus Microsporum: M. audouinii (n = 8), M. ferrugineum (n = 2), and M. gallinae (n = 1). T. verrucosum, followed by T. tonsurans were the most frequent causative agents in this study.

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The goal of this study is to describe the experience with smear microscopy examination for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) of spontaneous sputum from children in a district hospital located in a rural zone of Ethiopia. All sputum reports of children were retrospectively reviewed from July 2007 until June 2012. During the period of study, 875 children less than 15years old were screened and 48 (5.5%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.1-7.3%) were diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis sputum smear positive. The mean age of the children with sputum positive for AFB was significantly higher than children with sputum negative for AFB (11.4 versus 10.4) (p=0.001). Only 1 out of 47 (1.3%) children of 6years or less had sputum positive for AFB. In 13- and 14-year-old children, 8.7% had sputum positive for AFB (20 of 229) (p=0.03). Spontaneous sputum has a low diagnostic yield in childhood in low-income countries. Alternative methods should be implemented in rural areas to improve diagnosis of pulmonary TB, particularly in children less than 12years old.

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