Prevalence of Dermatophytosis and Antifungal Activity of Ethanolic Crude Leaf Extract ofTetradenia ripariaagainst Dermatophytes Isolated from Patients Attending Kampala International University Teaching Hospital, Uganda

Abstract

Dermatophyte infections are a global health problem but neglected in Uganda. This work aimed at determining prevalence of dermatophytosis and antifungal activity of ethanolic crude leaf extract of Tetradenia riparia against dermatophytes isolated from patients attending Kampala International University Teaching Hospital (KIU-TH), Uganda. A total of 100 samples of skin and nail scrapings were collected and processed using standard microscopy (KOH) and cultural methods. T. riparia leaves were collected and processed with 95% ethanol using standard extraction method. The crude leaves ethanolic extract was tested against three dermatophytes: Trichophyton tonsurans, T. mentagrophyte, and Microsporum audouinii using modified agar well diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of the ethanolic leaves crude extract were also determined using broth tube dilution and culture, respectively. Out of 100 samples collected, 49 (49%, 95%CI: 0.3930-0.5876) were found positive for microscopy. The prevalence of dermatophytosis was significantly (p=0.001) associated with age groups of participants with higher infection among those aged 11-20 and 21-30 years with 75.0% each. Out of the 49 that were positive by microscopy, 28 (57.15%, 95% CI: 0.1987-0.3739) were positive by culture. Thirty-one (31) fungal isolates were obtained which included both dermatophyte and non-dermatophyte fungi. T. verrucosum had highest distribution 6 (19.35%) among dermatophytes species while Aspergillus spp. were found to have highest distribution 7 (22.58%) among non-dermatophyte species. The result of the antidermatophytic test showed that T. riparia ethanolic crude leaves extract had activity against tested dermatophytes at 1 g/ml. MIC and MFC of the crude extract of T. riparia against tested dermatophytes ranged from 62.5 to 250 mg/ml and 125 to 500 mg/ml, respectively. The findings of this study reported the presence of dermatophytes causing dermatophytosis among patients attending KIU-TH. The results of the current study showed that T. riparia leaves ethanolic crude extract has antidermatophytic activity against tested dermatophytes.

Epidemiological Characterization of Dermatomycosis in Ethiopia

“…In this study, tinea corporis is the third common manifestation in prevalence and accounted for 13.9% of all tineas. Similar results were found in Ethiopia 21,22 and in Egypt, 36 India 30,37, and Brazil. 38,39 Whereas, Singh et al, 30 Naseri et al, 25 and Bhatia et al, 40 found tinea corporis as the dominant form of dermatomycosis ranging from 33.1%-39.5%.…”

“…Dermatomycosis was higher among females than males except for fingernail infection. Adult' age group (25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44) was more affected by dermatomycosis than the other age groups. The high prevalence of tinea corporis occurred in males rather than in females.…”

Major challenges and perspectives in the diagnostics and treatment of dermatophyte infections

“…Dermatophytes grow best in warm and humid environments; hence, they are more common in tropical and subtropical regions (Havlickova et al 2008). Therefore, dermatophytoses are more prevalent in Libya, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Ethiopia, Uganda, Italy and other warm countries than in countries with colder climates (Ozkutuk et al 2007;Bitew 2018;Kakande et al 2019). The geographical region is also an indicator of the distribution of individual species of dermatophytes.…”

“…It is worth noting that zoophilic dermatophytes isolated from animals are responsible for symptomatic infections, but they are also often asymptomatic, making an animal a carrier (Gnat et al 2018b). In this case, they may become a source of epidemics (Kakande et al 2019). Additionally, when the transmission onto a human takes place, zoophilic and geophilic species cause acute mycoses with strongly expressed symptoms of inflammatory response (Baumgardner 2017;Fike et al 2018;Pereira et al 2018;Vanam et al 2019;Gnat et al 2019f).…”

Genetic Predisposition and its Heredity in the Context of Increased Prevalence of Dermatophytoses

“…Dermatophytosis is a widespread disease with infection rates reaching 20–25% of the human population each year [ 1 – 3 ]. The major etiological agents of this disease are filamentous fungi called dermatophytes, which have high affinity to keratinized structures, e.g., skin, hair, and nails [ 1 , 4 – 6 ].…”