Contamination of Slippers by Dermatophytes

Lee, Hyun Joo; Jun, Jae Bok; Lee, Seok Jong; Kim, Do Won; Chung, Sang Lip

Abstract

BACKGROUND: It is known that slippers, shoes, floor, and clothes of common uses are the sources of infection by dermatophytes but there are few reports of culture of it from these environments, especially in Korea.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this work was to evaluate contamination status of the slippers of adult school use by dermatophytes.
METHODS
The samples were gathered from 70 pairs of slippers of adult school use with adhesive tape strip method and they were cultured on the media with cycloheximide (500 mg/L) and chloramphenicol (500 mg/L) to control the growth of nondermatophytic fungi.
RESULTS
Dermatophytes were isolated from 33 (47.1%) out of a total of 70 pairs of slippers. Twenty four pairs of slippers (34.3%) were contaminated with Trichophyton (T.) mentagrophytes only; 8 (11.4%) with T. rubrum only; 1 (1.4%) with both of them. Thus, T. mentagrophytes was the most common isolate. The number of colonies of T. mentagrophytes, isolated from 25 pairs of slippers, was 97 (mean 3.88/pair), and that of T. rubrum from 9 pairs was 34 (3.78/pair).
CONCLUSION
About forty seven percent of slippers of adult school use were contaminated by dermatophytes so that the control of tinea pedis would necessitate the simultaneous treatment of the infected individual and contaminated areas of the environment such as shoes and floor.