Dermatophytes – Meet the many fungi that love your skin, hair and nails

These fungi grow in the form of filaments (“hyphae”) and form moulds. They are the causative agents of skin mycoses, including athlete’s foot, ringworm and nail infections. Dermatophytes lead to contagious skin diseases. These infections may also spread from animals to humans (zoonosis) and should not be underestimated. These form the most widespread and numerous group of all mycoses. Dermatophytes include three genera of moulds from the class Euascomycetes: Trichophyton, Microsporum and Epidermophyton. Epidemiologically, dermatophytes are classified according to their mode of transmission into anthropophilic (associated with humans), zoophilic (associated with animals), or geophilic (living in the soil). All three groups may cause human infections.

Dermatophytes are the most common cause…