Fungal flora of human toe webs.

A total of 100 young adults (67 males and 33 females) participated in the study. Clinical evaluation showed that only 10 of the volunteers showed some scaling, fissuring and peeling of the toe webs. Four of these complained of occasional itching. Fourteen different genera of fungi were recovered from 78 of the 100 youths screened. Yeasts were recovered from 21 (27%) of the positive cases, nondermatophytes from 38 (49%) and dermatophytes from 19 (24%). Microsporum gypseum was the most commonly recovered dermatophyte. Rhizopus stolonifer and Trichosporon cutanueum were the most frequently recovered nondermatophytic mould and yeast, respectively. More males (62.8%) harboured these organisms than females (37.2%). The study further showed that human toe webs that are apparently healthy harbour a variety of fungi, that may be potential pathogens.