Treatment of superficial mycoses in the tropics: Whitfield's ointment versus clotrimazole.

Background: In tropical primary health care, essential drugs should be safe, effective, and as inexpensive as possible. To treat the very common dermatophyte infections of the skin, one may use inexpensive Whitfield's preparations, more expensive topical imidazole derivatives, or extremely expensive oral antifungals. Because a cream base is felt to be more appropriate than an ointment in tropical conditions, we wanted to compare the effectiveness of Whitfield's cream and a topical imidazole derivative in field conditions in the tropics.

[Treatment of superficial mycoses in the tropics. Results of a double-blind study in the Karonga District, Malawi].

A double-blind trial was undertaken in Karonga District, Northern Malawi comparing Whitfield's cream (3% salicylic acid and 6% benzoylic acid) and clotrimazole cream in the treatment of dermatophyte infections of the skin. To date, 138 patients have been reviewed; 65 of these patients received Whitfield's cream and 73 received clotrimazole cream. Within 4 weeks to 4 months after the beginning of treatment, there were six definite treatment failures in each group.

Activity of gentian violet and brilliant green against some microorganisms associated with skin infections.

The antimicrobial activity of gentian violet and brilliant green was tested against various strains of potential skin pathogens, by means of agar diffusion assay. The activity of both compounds was affected by pH. Gentian violet was found to be more active than brilliant green at pH 7.

[Skin diseases and working disability in the Netherlands. II. Catamnestic study in 3 groups of patients with occupational contact eczema].

A follow-up study was performed of the medical and social condition of 164 patients with an occupational allergic contact dermatitis. A change of work did not always lead to an improvement of the dermatitis. A number of patients improved without changing their job.