Clinico-mycological factors and in-vitro antifungal drug susceptibility in recalcitrant cutaneous dermatophytoses- a cross-sectional study from south india

There has been an unprecedented increase in recalcitrant dermatophytosis in India as well as worldwide in the past few years. There are no treatment guidelines for these cases and managing them poses a significant challenge.

Despite the widespread prevalence of these infections, there remains a gap in our understanding of the complex interplay between clinical factors, mycological factors, and antifungal drug susceptibility in recalcitrant cases.

Antifungal susceptibility studies have been conducted in various regions of India, some have reported resistance to commonly used antifungal drugs while others have found none though they obtained higher MIC values. Also, MIC values are yet to be determined. There is a paucity of published studies from Karnataka detailing the clinico-mycological aspects and drug sensitivity patterns in recalcitrant dermatophytosis.

Our study aims to assess the clinical factors, mycological factors, and antifungal drug sensitivity in cases of recalcitrant dermatophytosis.  We also intend to compare the clinical and mycological factors as well as prior antifungal treatment details with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of the antifungal drugs tested. And we also study the association between antifungal treatment received by the patient and invitro antifungal drug sensitivity . Antifungal drug sensitivity values shall also be compared among different dermatophyte species.