The prevalence of common skin conditions in Australian school students: 4 Tinea pedis

Tinea pedis is a condition that is common, often undiagnosed and frequently inadequately treated. Itis reported as being rare in young children, but there are relatively few populat ion-based reports ofprevalence. A randomized sample of 2491 students from schools throughout the State of Victoria,Australia, were examined by dermatologists and dermatology registrars, who recorded clinical signssuggestive of tinea pedis, which were the n con?rmed by fungal culture. The age- and sex-adjustedprevalence of culture-proven tinea pedis was 5 2 [95 con?dence interval (CI) 3 5 8?6 82]increasing with age from 2 1 (95 CI 0 95?3 28) in 4?6 year olds to 9 7 (95 CI 5 21?14 26) in 16?18 year olds. A higher proportion of males (6 0 ) had tinea pedis than females(4 3 ). Trichophyton mentagrophytes and T. rubrum were the most common dermatophytes isolatedon culture. Less than 40 of those with a positive diagnosis had reported on the questionnaire thatthey had tinea. Of those who reported correctly that they had tinea, 75 had used one or moreproducts to treat their condition, of which more than 40 were classi?ed as unlikely to have anytherapeutic effect on tine a pedis. These data con?rm that tinea pedis, a potentially transmissibledisease, is common in Australian schoolchildren, including those in primary school. There is a needfor education programmes in schools on the nature of tinea pedis, the treatment available, and thepublic health approach to infection control within the school and home environment.