A randomized trial of amorolfine 5% solution nail lacquer combined with oral terbinafine compared with terbinafine alone in the treatment of dermatophytic toenail onychomycoses affecting the matrix region.

In view of recent advances in the development of antifungal agents, this study examined the possible synergy of two new antifungal agents, terbinafine and amorolfine. The study compared two different courses of terbinafine treatment combined with amorolfine 5% solution nail lacquer. Terbinafine was given orally for 6 (AT6 group) or 12 weeks (AT12 group) and amorolfine nail lacquer applied weekly for 15 months.

Dermatophytosis in northern Greece during the decade 1981-1990.

Dermatophytic infections are very common in Greece. In the Mycological Laboratory of the Venereal and Skin Diseases Hospital in Thessaloniki, 6572 isolates of different dermatophytes were obtained from 17,120 patients examined. It is suggested that 5% of the people who present with skin problems in Greece suffer from dermatophyte infections.

Dermatophytosis due to Trichophyton rubrum in northern Greece during the decade 1981-1990.

During the years 1981-1990 Trichophyton rubrum was the most frequent causative agent of dermatophytic infections in Northern Greece, especially in cases of tinea pedis, cruris, corporis, and unguium, as well as dermatophytosis of the hands. Between sexes there was a prevalence in women in tinea pedis and toenail infections. Men were particularly infected in the groin, the hands and the face.

[Mycotic infection in immunosuppressed patients. An anatomopathologic study].

Mycotic infections are a frequent and often severe complication in the immunosuppressed patient. A review of autopsy findings in 54 cases with gross, histologic and mycologic studies was undertaken among immunocompromised patients after chemotherapy or allogenic bone marrow transplantation: fungal infections were either localized especially in lungs and gastrointestinal tract, or disseminated. Fungi were various: principally Candida and Aspergillus, but also Fusarium, Torulopsis and Trichosporon.

Interferon inhibits Aspergillus fumigatus growth in mice: an activity against an extracellular infection.

Prophylactic treatment of mice with interferon (IFN) or polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid [poly(I:C)], an IFN inducer, provided significant protection against an extracellular infection by Aspergillus fumigatus in both Swiss and Swiss athymic nude mice. Tunicamycin (TM) treatment inhibits the antifungal activity of IFN and poly(I:C) in these mice. Anti-asialo GM1 or TM [both inhibitors of natural killer (NK) cell function] treatment enhance the severity of A.

[Cutaneous localizations of disseminated Histoplasma capsulatum histoplasmosis in a case of acquired immunodeficiency].

A widespread maculo-papular cutaneous rash appeared on a HIV-positive young bisexual Cambodian man. He was treated for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Pneumocystis carinii infections. He had been residing in France for seven years.

[Dermatophytes and immigration].

An epidemiological study of dermatophytes was achieved during the years 1983-1984 in the Mycology Laboratory of Saint-Louis' Hospital. Immigrants represent an important part of the people who came to consult us: 28 per cent in 1983. The two most important immigrant peoples show different features: Black African people, who were mass contaminated by tinea agents (Trichophyton soudanense and Microsporum langeronii), were not much contaminated by epidermophytic agents (Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton interdigitale, Epidermophyton floccosum).

[Role of invasive candidiasis in hospital pathology].

The frequency, mode of occurrence, diagnostic criteria and main features of systemic and visceral candidiasis have been evaluated in a retrospective study of all cases managed in St Louis Hospital, Paris, during the [June 1, 1985-May 31, 1986] period. During this one year period 23 patients suffered from systemic or visceral candidiasis and Candida spp. accounted for 9.

Existence of ornamentations on macroconidia and hyphae of Epidermophyton floccosum.

The surface features of cell walls of several recent clinical isolates of Epidermophyton floccosum were examined by scanning electron microscopy. Macroconidia from each of our isolates displayed excrescences on the wall which were similar in their location and in their substructural appearance. We believe these irregularities sufficiently developed to regard them as true wall ornamentations.

Scanning electron microscopy on Microsporum audouini complex.

Several strains of Microsporum audouini, M. langeroni and M. rivalieri were observed by light and scanning electron microscopies.

[Severe candidiasis in heroin addicts].

Seven cases of severe candida infection in heroin addicts are reported. The principal features of this condition which arose in 1980, apparently due to a particular quality of heroin, are described, Candida albicans was the only pathogenic agent isolated from mainly scalp nodular and pustular lesions. These cutaneous lesions were associated in half the cases with ocular lesions, which sometimes had a poor prognosis despite active therapy.

Primary onycholysis of the big toenails: a review of 113 cases.

We have reviewed the clinical and microbiological features of 113 cases of idiopathic onycholysis primarily affecting the great toenails. It is suggested that the majority of these cases were traumatic in origin. Although dermatophytes and potentially pathogenic bacteria were frequently found in the lesions, they were thought to be commensal in most cases.

[The practice of judo and the risk of fungal contamination].

Over one hundred judokas, a large training tatami, the ground of shower rooms were examined by various methods. Cultures showed that Trichophyton rubrum, though being as frequent as Trichophyton interdigitale on the feet of sportsmen is much less frequent on the training tatami and was never isolated in great quantity from the shower rooms. The problem of fungus contamination in this kind of sportsmen is obvious.