Tracking <i>Trichophyton tonsurans</i> Through a Large Urban Child Care Center: Defining Infection Prevalence and Transmission Patterns by Molecular Strain Typing

Abstract

In contrast to dermatophyte infections in older individuals, where symptomatic disease seems to be a consequence of pathogen acquisition and carriers can be traced to an index case, in this preschool-aged population infection was endemic, and symptomatic disease seemed to represent activation of a single strain that persisted on the scalp.