A Ten Year Survey on Trichophyton Tonsurans: Prevalence and Strain Types in the General Community and in Aborigines

During a 10-year period (1976-1986), a set of 154 isolates of T. tonsurans were examined. These were derived from patients in the Illawarra, South Coast and North Coast areas of NSW. The American experience of rapid increase in T. tonsurans infections was not repeated in this survey. There appeared to be good evidence of particular strains of T. tonsurans causing infections almost exclusively in aboriginal patients (96.6%), while other strains substantially caused infections in non-aboriginal patients (78.4%).