Tinea capitis survey in Charleston, S.C.

From 1950 to 1953, an increase in the incidence of tinea capitis was noticed in the Dermatology Clinic at the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C. It was decided to undertake a survey of the elementary schools in the city in an effort to determine the amount of tinea capitis in the school children, and to curb a further increase in the number of infections. Although this survey was made 6 years ago, the information is deemed worthy of report, since no other survey of this type has been made in this area because of a striking difference in the number of infections in Negroes and whites and because so many of the infections were found to be without clinical symptoms. Procedure for Survey The 4 Negro and 5 white schools in the city were visited, and a total of 6,554 children between the ages of 6 and