Griseofulvin in the mass treatment of tinea capitis.

The prevalence of ringworm of the scalp in many countries, and the fact that many of the current measures to control it are inconvenient for mass use, lend particular interest to the account given in this paper of mass treatment of tinea capitis in an Arab village in Israel. A total of 446 cases were treated, on an ambulatory basis, with a single daily dose (25-30 mg/kg) of griseofulvin, and it was found that clinical cure, confirmed by microscopy, was achieved in 3-6 weeks in the majority. All cases were cured after 10 weeks' treatment.A preliminary study on 25 hospitalized children had previously shown the drug to be effective and apparently safe, the only side-effects encountered in these children and in the Arab village being nausea, furunculosis and drug eruption. No relapses were seen in the 25 children, who were followed up for from two to six months.