Tinea capitis due to Trichophyton tonsurans; incidence, diagnosis and epidemiology in the San Francisco Bay Region.

Eighty-five cases of tinea capitis due to T. tonsurans were observed in the San Francisco Bay area during the five years 1950-54. This disease, unlike the common microsporum infections, sometimes affects adults and adolescents. Hairs infected with T. tonsurans do not fluoresce under the Wood's light. Diagnosis is a laboratory procedure in which the fungus is isolated from the hair. There are three clinical varieties of the disease. The course is prolonged and treatment is unsatisfactory. The disease apparently has spread from Mexico, through the Southwest and Southern California. Control is difficult.