Background: Tinea capitis remains a prevalent health problem among school-aged children.
Objective: To estimate the prevalence of tinea capitis among primary school students, in Fayoum, Egypt with identification of etiological agents in both public and private primary schools.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in twelve primary schools. The students were selected from different grades with a total number of 12,128 students. Hair and scalp were clinically examined for any lesions that may suspect tinea capitis and mycological samples were collected for direct microscopy and culture.
Results: The prevalence of tinea capitis in the study group was 0.4% and higher in public than private schools (73.5% versus 26.5% respectively). Boys were more affected than girls with boy to girls' ratio 5:1. Intrafamily history of infection was present in 40.8% of tested group while 51% showed low social standard profile. Mycological culture revealed that Microsporum canis was the predominant isolated organism followed by M. audouinii (52% and 36% respectively).
Conclusion: M. canis is replacing Trichophyton violaceum as an etiology for tinea capitis in Egypt with lower prevalence rate than reported previously.
Keywords: Epidemiology; Microsporum canis; School students; Tinea capitis.