No abstract

Dermatophytosis is a widely spread contagious zoonotic disease, affecting both man (tinea) and animals (ringworm). This disease is caused by a group of closely related keratinophilic fungi known collectively as the dermatophytes group. Although the wide distribution of dermatophytosis cases throughout the whole world and its adverse clinical effect on human health, economical effect on productive animals, and pet animal welfare, there is no rapid accurate diagnostic tool for such disease. Up to date, dermatophytosis diagnosis is limited to direct, rapid with low sensitivity and specificity several wet mounts techniques, sophisticated with high skilled personnel requirement molecular assays, and gold standard with long time consumption conventional culturing and biochemical testing. All of the previously mentioned existing diagnostic methods are lab confined techniques with no availability of a field, handheld, or bedside tests. The different aspects of difficulties facing dermatophytosis diagnosis lead to mistaken diagnosis and faulty prescription of antifungals with its expected long list of side effects on man and animals. The current conducted study tries to accomplish the difficult equation by achieving an accurate, sensitive, specific, user-friendly, rapid, robust, device less, deliverable to end-users, and economic cost for development and production diagnostic kit. The newly designated and developed kit, based on lateral flow immune-chromatographic assay, showed a very promising competitive diagnostic result.