Prevalence of tinea capitis among schoolchildren in Mahajanga, northern Madagascar: An epidemio-clinical survey using conventional, proteomic and molecular approaches.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence, clinical, and epidemiological features of tinea capitis (TC) in schoolchildren in Mahajanga city, north-west Madagascar, to identify the etiological dermatophyte species by morphological, proteomic and molecular approaches and ultimately to analyze the risk factors promoting TC in the studied region.

Methods: A survey was conducted in a randomly selected primary school. Symptomatic schoolchildren with signs resembling TC were sampled by scraping and sterile swabbing after examination of the scalp with a Wood's lamp.

Morphological discrimination of human lice (Anoplura: Pediculidae) by eggs' cap-like operculum.

Human lice have long been parasites of humans and are responsible for several epidemics in human medical history. However, their morphology, particularly head and body lice, remains very similar. In this study, we discriminate human louse species based on the number, shape and size of aeropyles (respiratory pores) of the egg operculum as well as the size of the respiratory orifice in the aeropyles.