Tinea capitis caused by Trichophyton rubrum in two children with extensive dermatophytosis.

Trichophyton rubrum is the predominant causative dermatophyte of cutaneous and nail mycoses. However, it is rarely isolated from the scalp. The authors describe two cases of the tinea capitis due to T. rubrum in a 13-year-old girl and her brother of 8-year-old. Both children were suffering of lamellar erythrodermic recessive ichtyosis and showed disseminated superficial mycosis. The girl had a large patch of partial alopecia with scale and erythema while the boy had a diffuse scaling of the scalp without alopecia. Direct examination of hair samples revealed an unusual pilar parasitism with endothrix and ecto-endothrix aspects. However, the primary culture and above all the culture on slides allowed as to identify T. rubrum.