Abstract

Dermatophytes invade and destroy keratinized tissues of the skin, hairs and nails by keratinase. They are classified in 3 anamorphic genera, Epidermophyton, Microspoorum and Trichophyon, depending on their macroconidial characteristics. They have characteristic morphology of macroconidia and microconidia, and arrangement of microconidia. Dermatophytes can be divided into 3 groups, anthropophilic, zoophilic and geophilic, depending on their natural habits. By hair invasion behaviors, they can be divided into endothrix and ectothrix, and have different patters under Wood lamp illumiantion. Growth characteristics of fungi are important on identification. Important features of fungal colonies are growth rate at 25~30, color, topography, texture and pattern of colony folding. Nine species of dermatophytes have been identified in Korea and their chatracteristics were reviewed.

Keywords

Dermatophytes Identification

KJMM 1997 June;2(1):1-8(8). Epub 2016 February 25
Copyright © 1997 by Korean Journal of Medical Mycology

Language

Korean/English

Author

Ki Hong Kim; Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Taegu, Korea

Corresponding

Ki Hong Kim, Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Taegu, Korea.

Publication history

Acknowledgements

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Ki Hong Kim

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Taegu, Korea

Since epub date 2016 February 25