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Undecylenic acid and tolnaftate were tested in an in vitro test system to evaluate their relative "killing time" efficacy against Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum, and Epidermophyton floccosum. Commercial products containing these active agents were tested similarly. The pure active agents were equivalent in activity. The commercial product containing undecylenic acid appeared to be more effective against the test organisms than did the product containing tolnaftate.

The authors report a case of tinea nigra of left sole, diagnosticate at the beginning as melanoma of superficial dissemination. The mycological studies confirmed the dermatological diagnostic of tinea nigra by Cladosporium werneckii.

Ninety-six patients with clinical evidence of interdigital lesions classified as mild, moderate and severe athlete's foot were investigated for bacterial and fungal populations in the interspaces. Gram-negative bacteria, which were not found in the toe spaces of 50 normal controls, were grown in increasing numbers and with increasing frequency as the symptoms progressed from mild to severe. Gram-positive bacteria were also isolated regularly and in increasing numbers commensurate with the severity of the disease. Similarly the isolation rates of dermatophytes and Candida species were higher in patients with moderate and severe disease compared to those with mild disease. Clinical and culture responses to topical applications with framycetin, tolnaftate, miconazole and clotrimazole were also studied. In some patients the prevalence of pathogenic fungi increased as bacterial numbers decreased. The pure antibacterial framycetin brought symptomatic relief, as did the purely anti-dermatophyte substance tolnaftate, but best results were seen with two azole compounds having mixed antibacterial and antifungal properties.

A case of tinea pedis caused by a dual infection with Trichophyton rubrum and Microsporum canis is reported. It is of particular interest because infections of the toe webs caused by M. canis are uncommon and the combination of T. rubrum and M. canis has not been reported. In addition, a marked difference in response to treatment with an imidazole (bifonazole) was observed.

Quantitative cultures in 140 cases of interdigital "athlete's foot" established the following clinical-microbiological correlations. In 39 cases of mild, scaling, relatively asymptomatic variety, fungi were recovered in 84% of cases. As the disease progressed to maceration, hyperkeratosis, and increased symptoms, recovery of fungi fell to 55% in moderately symptomatic and to 36% in severe cases. Symptomatic cases had increasing numbers of resident aerobic organisms, particularly large colony diphtheroids. Experimental manipulations of the interspace microflora in volunteers, monitored with quantitative cultures, demonstrated that symptomatic, macerated, hyperkeratotic process results from an overgrowth of resident organisms if the stratum corneum barrier is damaged by preexisting fungi, while overgrowth of the same organisms in normal, fungus-free interspaces does not produce lesions. These experiments support the conclusion that athlete's foot represents a continuum from a relatively asymptomatic, scaling eruption produced by fungi to a symptomatic, macerated, hyperkeratotic variety that is caused by an overgrowth of bacteria.

A second case of tinea nigra occuring in Germany is recorded. The patient was a 33 year old women, who supposedly acquired the infection in Israel, which was not diagnosed until two years after the onset. Scrapings from a dark macule on her sole yielded Cladosporium werneckii. The lesion cleared with topical treatment of a keratinolytic ointment and a haloprogin-cream.

The causative organisms and susceptibility factors were compared in two groups of individuals with tinea pedis, coal miners (234) and dermatological outpatients (244). Trichophyton rubrum was the commonest dermatophyte in both groups, being isolated from 71% of infected miners and 77% of infected outpatients. The incidence of atopy in the outpatients, but not the miners, was significantly higher in individuals with T rubrum infections than in control groups. An analysis of the data from both groups suggests that in the coal miners, in whom there is a high risk of endemic dermatophytosis, susceptibility factors such as atopy are of less importance than in patients seen in a dermatological outpatient clinic in whom the risk of exposure to other sources of dermatophytosis is low.

We report here on the G + C mol% content of T. rubrum DNA (including T. rubrum types I-V and an isolate from a patient with tinea pedis) as determined by a thermal denaturation technique. The results are as follows: 45.5, 57.37, 44.22, 45.38, 45.54, and 49.41 mol% for T. rubrum types I-V and isolate respectively. The results are similar to those in the literature, except that the value of T. rubrum type II is slightly higher. Our observations indicate that the morphological heterogeneity of different types of T. rubrum do not seem to be reflected in their G + C mol% values. The authors suggest that the method used here for determining G + C mol% is easy and reproducible.

The authors make an epidemiologic study of tinea pedis aiming at establishing its minimal frequency in the population studied, as well as recognizing the most frequent fungi and the clinical aspects they determine. We've tried to study the role of the dermatophytes in the normal microbiota of the feet. Finally we analyzed the influence of sex and seasonality factors on the incidence of tinea pedis.

In a group of 84 adult male workers in an industrial plant, who used a common shower room, the applicability of the adhesive tape-KOH technique for routine mycologic examination was investigated. The tape technique was compared with the conventional cover slip technique in interdigital and plantar lesions. The tape technique gave more frequent positive results than the cover slip technique (74% and 57% respectively). However, examination of the tapes was more difficult than that of the cover slips. The latter method therefore appears more appropriate for routine microscopical mycologic examination.

We report the first case of tinea pedis and onychomycosis caused by Hendersonula toruloidea in the United States and, to our knowledge, the third such case reported in North America. The clinical picture is one of chronic, hyperkeratotic, recalcitrant tinea pedis similar to that caused by Trichophyton rubrum. Except for 2 years in Alaska, our 46-year-old patient had never lived outside the state of Louisiana. Previous treatment with griseofulvin and treatment with 1% bifonazole cream for 4 weeks were both ineffective. The patient did not respond to further treatment with a variety of topical antifungal preparations. This fungus is endemic to the tropical and subtropical regions; our case suggests that it may be endemic to the southern part of the United States as well. Dermatologists should be alerted to this overlooked disease entity.