A Localized Outbreak of Tinea Capitis (M. Audouini) in Northern Ireland

Abstract

An outbreak of tinea capitis in Newtonards, County Down, between June, 1948, and Aug., 1949, is descr. 368 children under the age of 17 were affected, an incidence rate in the population at the same ages of about 12%. The age and sex incidence rates, based on pupils of 5 schools, which accounted for 304 of the patients showed that 27.2% of the male school population was infected compared with 7.2% of the corresponding female population. There was no apparent association between age and incidence. The different levels of incidence experienced by the 5 school communities suggest that the epidemic was more severe in some parts of the town than in others. The organism responsible for the outbreak was Microsporon audouini, and no other fungus was grown from 280 cultures made during the course of the outbreak. A clinical descr. of the infection has been given and the value of Wood''s light in the detection of infected children is emphasized.