Abstract:

Objective: Investigating the fungus carrier status of the college student's feet so as to provide the basis for the etiology
and clinical prevention and treatment. Methods: Samples were obtained by rubbing with a cotton swab on feet from 262 voluntary students. Direct microscopy observation, fungal culture and strain identification were applied in the study. Results: There were 397 fungi isolated from 262 specimens; the positive rate was 74.04%. The fungi carrier rates were not significantly different between male（71.8%）and female （77.4%）（P>0.05）. In the isolated strains, there were 113 strains of dermatophytes （28.4%）, 114 strains of yeast （28.7%）, and 23 strains of other unclassified multi-cellular fungi （5.8%）. There was no statistically significant difference of multi-cellular fungi incidence rate between males and females （P>0.05）. Yeast carrier rate in male and female were 35.2% and
55.7%, respectively; the difference was statistically significant （Χ²=10.6904, P<.01）The incidence rate of foot fungus disease was 11.1% among student population. Conclusion: High fungus carrying rate and relatively low foot fungus disease incidence rate was observed in college students, the carrying rate was not different between male and female. We also found higher yeast carrying rate in the female.

Key words: fungus, multi-cellular fungi, yeast, college students