Abstract

Hedgehogs are nocturnal spiny mammals in a rodent family. Recently in Korea, the more hedgehogs are raised in the house as pets, the more people are acquired various infections from them. Herein, we report a case of Trichophyton(T.) mentagrophytes var. erinacei infection transmitted from the patient's pet hedgehog. The patient was a 37-year-old man who raised a hedgehog for 6 months. He presented with scaly, erythematous papules and plaques on the left hand and right elbow for 3 months. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) examination, fungus culture and PCR for the fungal strain showed T. mentagrophytes var. erinacei. Treatment was performed systemically and topically with antifungal agents and skin lesions were improved without recurrence. Up to date, there have been only three case-reports of T. mentagrophytes var. erinacei infection transmitted from pet hedgehogs in the English literature. Here we report a rare and interesting case.

Keywords

Hedgehogs Tinea corporis et manuum Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. erinacei

KJMM 2009 June;14(2):98-102(5). Epub 2016 February 18
Copyright © 2009 by Korean Journal of Medical Mycology

Language

Korean/English

Author

Kyung Jin Lee; Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea
Jung Eun Kim; Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea
Hyun Jeong Park; Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea
Jun Young Lee; Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea
Baik Kee Cho; Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea

Corresponding

Hyun Jeong Park, Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea. Tel: (02) 3779-1391, Fax: (02) 783-7604, e-mail: hjpark@catholic.ac.kr

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.

Kyung Jin Lee

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea

Jung Eun Kim

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea

Hyun Jeong Park

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea

Jun Young Lee

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea

Baik Kee Cho

Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea

Since epub date 2016 February 18