Onychomycosis is a fungal infection of nails caused by dermatophytes, yeasts and moulds, accounting for about 50% of onychopathies. A high frequency of onychomycosis caused by Candida species has been reported during the last few years in northeast Brazil, as well as in other regions of the world. A clinical diagnosis of onychomycosis needs to be confirmed through laboratory exams. We evaluated the importance of serial repetition of direct microscopic exams and fungal culture for the diagnosis of onychomycosis in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará, in northeast Brazil. We first made a retrospective study of 127 patients with onychomycosis, identifying the fungi that had been isolated from fingernails and toenails. We then made a prospective study of 120 patients, who were submitted to three successive mycological examinations. Ungual residues were scraped off and directly examined with a microscope and fungal cultures were made. In the retrospective study, in which only one sample was analyzed, the incidence of onychomycosis was 25.0%. In our prospective study, in which we had data from successive mycological examinations, 37.8% had onychomycosis. The most commonly isolated fungi in both studies were yeasts from the genera Candida, especially C albicans, C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis. We found a high proportion of onychomycosis caused by Candida species. We also concluded that serial repetition of direct microscopic examination and fungal culture, with intervals of 2-5 days improved the diagnosis of onychomycosis. We suggest that this laboratorial strategy is necessary for accurate diagnosis of this type of mycosis, especially when the standard procedures fail to diagnose fungal infection, despite strong clinical suspicion.

Atualmente, 70% do suprimento mundial de borracha é sintetizado artificialmente. O processo envolvido em sua manufatura é a vulcanização que requer muitas substâncias químicas para aceleração do processo, como antioxidantes para prevenir a deterioração da borracha ou outros. Estas substâncias podem ter potencial sensibilizante tornando-se responsáveis por afecções dermatológicas, principalmente dermatite de contato. O objetivo deste estudo é pesquisar os principais sensibilizantes dentre os componentes da borracha numa população predominantemente feminina num País Tropical e comparar os resultados com os obtidos em estudos prévios que testaram populações predominantemente masculina em climas diferentes.

Nowadays 70% of the world's rubber supply is synthesized artificially. The process involved in its manufacture is vulcanization which requires many chemical substances for speeding the process, as antioxidants to prevent deterioration of rubber, or others. These substances may constitute important sensitizers and thus be responsible for dermatological diseases like contact dermatitis. The objective of this study is to search for the main sensitizers among these rubber chemicals in a population mostly composed by women of a tropical country and compare the results with the ones obtained from previous studies which tested populations mainly composed by men and on different climates.

Este trabalho consiste numa avaliação da ocorrência de dermatite de contato por níquel num País Tropical, da sua distribuição entre os sexos e da determinação da topografia anatômica mais acometida. Um estudo retrospectivo e seqüencial por dois anos (1994-1995) foi realizado em 404 indivíduos que tinham dermatite de contato como hipótese clínica e que foram submetidos ao teste de contato ou "patch test". A ocorrência de sensibilização ao níquel foi 19,8%, 88,8% dos quais eram mulheres e o restante, 11,2%, eram homens. As lesões localizavam-se predominantemente nas mãos, antebraços, lóbulos auriculares e pés. Os autores comentam sobre possíveis variações na ocorrência de dermatite de contato por níquel nas áreas rurais e/ou nos países tropicais

This work consists in an evaluation of the occurrence of nickel contact dermatitis, its distribution between sexes and in which parts of the body the dermatitis usually occurs. It was accomplished a two year (1994-1995) retrospective study of 404 patch-tested patients which had previous clinical diagnosis of contact dermatitis. The occurrence of nickel sensitisation was 19,8%. 88,8% of these 19,8% were women and the rest, 11,2%, were men. The lesions were present predominantly on hands, forearms, earlobes and feet. The authors comment about possible variations of occurrence of nickel contact dermatitis in rural areas and/or tropical countries