Introduction

Onychomycosis is a cutaneous fungal infection of the nail apparatus that is observed worldwide and represents about 50% of all nail disorders. The knowledge of prevalence and causative species of onychomycosis can accelerate its diagnosis and treatment. Over the last decades the incidence rate of cutaneous fungal infections and onychomycosis has been steadily increasing because of many factors such as aging population, increased antibiotics use and higher exposure to fungal species.

Objective

To determine the epidemiology of onychomycosis of the adult and pediatric population.

Material and methods

Mycological examination was performed on patients with suspected onychomycosis over the course of 3 years in the Mycology Laboratory of the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology at Medical University of Gdansk.

Results

Onychomycosis was confirmed by culture in 720 cases of which 450 were toenail infections and 270 were fingernail infections. The most frequently cultured were dermatophytes (379 cases, 52.64%) followed by yeasts (330, 45.83%) while non-dermatophyte molds were causative agents in 11 (1.53%) cases. In the pediatric population 21 cases of onychomycosis were confirmed by the mycological examination out of which 12 (57.14%) cases were caused by dermatophytes and 9 (42.86%) cases were caused by yeasts, there were no non-dermatophytic molds isolated in the given time period.

Conclusions

The risk of onychomycosis increases with age. In over 50% of cases the disease is caused by dermatophytes both in adults and in children.