Fungal Species Detection in Onychomycosis by Culture and Direct Microscopy at Tertiary Care Hospital, Bahawalpur, Pakistan

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to detect the common organisms by culture and KOH mount microscopy of nail infections.Setting: It was cross sectional study. Three hundred sixty clinically diagnosed cases were collected from 1st July 2018 to 31st July 2021 from Dermatology OPD of Bahawal Victoria Hospital and clinics. The samples were processed in the Microbiology section of the Pathology department of Quaid-e-Azam Medical College Bahawalpur, Pakistan. Method: The nail specimen was directly inoculated on SDA culture media and aerobically incubate at 25 Ć to 30 Ć for 3 to 4 weeks. The growth was identified in colony characteristics by using cotton blue stains. Whereas the nail is immersed in 20% KOH solution. The microscopic study revealed the hyphae or spores and that is considered a positive for the test. Result: out of three hundred sixty cases the culture positivity was 56.94% of the specimen while KOH mount was positive in 60.83% of specimens and the combination of Culture with KOH was 66.67%.Conclusion: The fungal culture and KOH mount microscopy combination are subtle laboratory methods for the detection of organisms causing onychomycosis. The species detection and precise usage of anti-mycological agents to prevent the complications raised public health considerably.