[Epidemiology of tinea capitis. Five-year retrospective study in three hospitals in the Val de Marne].

Objective: Describe the epidemiology of Tinea capitis in three hospitals in the Val de Marne (suburban district southeast of Paris) and evaluate the usefulness of screening the families of index cases.

Methods: The study included 3 hospitals: Henri Mondor Hospital, Creteil Intermunicipal Hospital Center and Bicêtre Hospital. Index patients had a positive culture for dermatophytes during visits to the mycology-dermatology or pediatric clinics from January 1998 through December 2002.

Frequency of intravascular catheter colonization by Malassezia spp. in adult patients.

Colonization of intravascular catheters (IVCs) with lipid-dependent Malassezia spp. is rarely reported in adult patients probably because of the absence of additional lipids in routine culture media. Therefore, we systematically seeded 983 consecutive IVC onto Dixon medium compatible with the growth of Malassezia spp.