Dermatomycoses are a group of diseases worldwide distributed and affect skin, hair and nails. Several fungal species can be envolved and keratinophilic fungi belonging to the genera Trichophyton, Microsporum and Epidermophyton are very common. These infections are globally distributed and their incidence has progressively increased. Despite their high incidence, few studies have been carried out in HIV-infected patients, regarding frequency, clinical presentations, and species identification. This study aimed to evaluate some epidemiological and clinical aspects of dermatophytosis in HIV-infected patients and to attempt phenotypical and molecular characteristics of their agents. Of 398 patients included, 306 were HIV-infected. Clinical data and samples of skin, hair and nail lesions were simultaneously obtained. The dermatophytes yielded in culture were phenotypically identified and evaluated by ITS-RFLP and ITS (Internal Transcribed Space) sequencing. Dermatophytes frequency in HIV-infected patients with cutaneous lesions was 11.76% similar to the 15.22% observed in non-HIV individuals. Trichophyton rubrum was the most common isolated species in both groups. Throught ITS-RFLP, 29/32 (90.63%) of dermatophytes isolates were identified at the species level. From the 10 isolates randomly selected for ITS sequencing, seven confirmed the ITS-RFLP results while three Trichophyton sp. were not identified as dermatophytes. The identification of these species in HIV-infected patients is highly desirable in order to improve the knowledge of their frequency, geographical distribution and relation to clinical presentation.
