[Trichophyton tonsurans-an emerging pathogen in wrestling in Germany].

Trichophyton (T.) tonsurans is considered as the main causative agent of tinea gladiatorum (ringworm) in contact and martial arts worldwide and regularly leads to outbreaks. In the national wrestling squad in Leipzig, dermatophytoses occurred frequently and recurrently in children and adolescents for over a 2-year period. The wrestlers came to the dermatologist's office for clinical examination and sampling. Dermal scales and hair roots as well as smears were examined mycologically with fluorescence optical preparation, fungal culture, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for dermatophyte DNA. Sequencing of the dermatophyte rDNA served as culture confirmation test. Environmental investigations in the wrestler training center included contact cultures and smears from surfaces, in particular from the mats. T. tonsurans was culturally and/or with PCR detectable in 21 out of 25 children and adolescents plus one trainer. T. tonsurans grew in one of ten contact cultures of mats and floors in the wrestling training center, and T. interdigitale was found in another culture. Smears from the mats resulted in a culture of T. tonsurans detection twice. The PCR was positive for T. tonsurans three times. Within 14 days, T. tonsurans developed small, flat, radiating, granular and white-colored colonies with a mahogany-brown reverse side on the fungal culture media. The sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rDNA and the translation elongation factor 1 α (TEF 1 α) gene confirmed the species T. tonsurans in all cases. T. interdigitale that was found from a mat was also identified by sequencing. Eight T. tonsurans strains were subjected to in vitro susceptibility testing to terbinafine. All isolates were sensitive to terbinafine in vitro with minimal inhibitory concentrations of ≤ 0.1 µg/ml.