Incidence of Tinea pedis and Eczema among Male and Female Students: Effect of Hydraulic Oil and Antifungal Creams

Abstract

This study was designed to assess incident of Tinea pedis and eczema skin infections on male and female students of Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic. The fungal that causes these infections were identified and characterized while the potency of three types of hydraulic oils (Bx oil, Al oil and Ad oil) were tested over known pharmaceutical formulations (i.e antifungal creams including Tr creams, Gd cream and Sk cream).   A total of twenty-one (21) students with either Tinea pedis or eczema volunteered for this analysis and the results obtained indicated a. significant differences (p<0.05) between incidence of these infections on the female and male students was observed with the female taken the lead. Eleven (11) female students five (5) (45.5%) had Tinea pedis while 6 (54.5%) had eczema and of the 10 male students 8 (80.0%) had Tinea pedis while 2 (20.0%) had eczema. The isolates identified included Trichophhyton sp, Microsporium sp and Aspergillus sp. Susceptibility result showed that the Bx oil sample was quite effective on all the fungal isolates while resistance was seen on the Ad and Al oil samples for all the isolates. The susceptibility of the antifungal creams on the isolates showed that all the isolates were sensitive to Tr and Sk creams while moderate sensitivity was seen for Gd cream. This analysis therefore shows that antifungal creams have a higher level of susceptibility on fungal isolates compared to hydraulic oil.