Trichophyton Rubrum: Exposure and Infection Within Household Groups

The epidemiology of dermatophyte infections of the glabrous skin is largely unknown. There are, however, two major schools of thought as to its nature. In one of these, Baer and others consider that dermatophytes may at times simply be part of the normal cutaneous flora. The appearance of clinical disease is thought largely to depend on local resistance.¹In the other school the thought is held that development of clinical lesions may be closely related to exposure to contaminated material in shoes or on floors.² This paper is a study of the relation of exposure and infection of Trichophyton rubrum within 30 household groups representing 127 people. Procedure After persons with proven cases of T. rubrum were obtained from the Tulane and Charity Hospital Dermatology clinics, all available members of their households were interviewed and examined. All lesions except those clearly from other causes were thoroughly cleaned, then