Pattern of skin fungi in palmar arsenical keratosis

Abstract

<p class="Abstract">The aim of this study was to examine the pattern of fungi in palmar arsenical keratosis. The skin swab was taken from the five different sites (palm, dorsum, axilla, front and back of the chest) of arsenicosis patients (n=37), arsenic exposed volunteers (n=20) and healthy volunteers (n=20) of an arsenic endemic area. Fungi were cultured in the Sabouraud dextrose agar media. The skin of the healthy volunteers contained only four species of fungi: Aspergillus, Dermatophytes, Mucor and Fusarium. The incidence of each fungus was low (0-4 out of 20 cases). The chronic exposure to arsenic did not alter the pattern of fungi. However, the patient of arsenicosis showed increased inci-dence of Aspergillus and Dermatophytes species and decreased incidence of Mucor species. The supplementation of iron and folic acid to the patient for 12 weeks reduced the incidence of Aspergillus (only in axilla), Dermatophytes (only in palm) and increased the incidence of Mucor (all the sites except palm). In conclusion, skin fungi are altered in arsenicosis irrespective of intake of high concentration of arsenic.</p>

Effects of tetracycline and clotrimazole ointments in the treatment of palmar arsenical keratosis

“…On the other hand, Aspergillus spp. was found to be predominant fungus in the palmar surface in comparison to arsenic-exposed and healthy individuals (Moitra et al, 2018). The present study also explored and found the presence of Aspergillus spp.…”

“…(Pillsburry and Rebell, 1951;Roth and James, 1988;Paulino et al, 2006) were reported as the most common fungus in the skin of healthy individuals Two studies conducted at this laboratory showed S. epidermidis and Bacillus spp. as normal bacterial flora (Khalil et al, 2016) and species of Aspergillus, Dermatophytes, Mucor and Fusarium as normal fungal flora (Moitra et al, 2018).…”

“…and Enterobacter spp. were found to be significantly present on the palm of the patients with arsenical keratosis in comparison to the control population (Khalil et al, 2016;Moitra et al, 2018). But the relationship between such altered skin flora and the development of arsenical keratosis is not established or explored.…”